Rory Holloway, Mike Tyson’s friend and longtime manager, recalled a time in his book, Taming the Beast: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson, where the boxing champ came toe to toe with basketball legend, Michael Jordan. According to Rory, it wasn’t pretty and was about to be a flat out ‘rumble in the jungle’…

That Time Tyson Confronted Jordan Over Robin Givens:

It’s no secret that Mike Tyson had a rough time when he was a boxing champ. The former champ was once married to Robin Givens and they had a rocky relationship. When they divorced in 1989, Tyson was beside himself with grief and he struggled to deal with their separation.

Rory Holloway and Mike developed a relationship while Tyson was learning his craft under Cus D’Amato as a young teenager and Rory  says he was by his side until they fell out in the late 1990s. In his book, he detailed the night he joined Tyson, Michael Jordan, Chicago Bears coach, Mike Ditka, star defensive end, Richard Dent, and boxing promoter, Don King, for dinner at a Chicago restaurant. Holloway wrote that he was trying to help Tyson deal with his separation from Givens because Tyson loved her wasn’t dealing with the divorce well at all.

Worried that things may get problematic, Holloway says he asked the waiter to limit Tyson’s alcohol intake because it was public knowledge that Jordan apparently once dated Givens and Givens was Tyson’s weakness at that time. During the dinner, Tyson confronted Jordan about  dating Robin and that’s when dinner time turned into ‘the clash of the living legends.’ Check out the details below…

Via Taming the Beast: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson: Mike Tyson’s sitting there with his drink of choice, a Long Island Tea, and when he drinks his real feelings come out …, Holloway wrote in his book. I’m telling the server to water his drinks down ‘cause I see where this is going. Mike stares across the table at Michael Jordan. He says, ‘Hey man, you think I’m stupid? I know you f—-d with my b—h.’

Tyson Went Off On Ditka & Jordan, Don King & Manager Intervene

Shocked as hell that Tyson would confront him in that manner, Jordan was quiet and looking for an exit, according to Holloway. Ditka tried to step in to diffuse the situation, but Tyson then stepped to him too and let him know how he really felt about him:

Holloway: Jordan, it’s obvious he just wants to get up and run. He wants no part of this. Mike turns to Ditka. ‘Man, you think somebody scared of you, all that racist s–t you been talking?’ He says to Dent, ‘Y’all scared of this damn white man, Richard? He ain’t nobody. You gonna let him talk that way?’

Holloway said that at that time, Tyson’s temper was explosive and he’d had become a bit of a chaperone for Mike. That night was crazy and from the sounds of it, Jordan is lucky Mike didn’t kill him. Despite the fact that Jordan reportedly dated Givens before Mike, Rory said Tyson still was bothered by them being together:

 Holloway: It was a circus, for real, that night. Don King trying to change the subject. Me and John trying to hold Mike down. Mike telling everyone he’s going to bust Jordan’s ass. Jordan’s dressed sharp as always and he can’t get out of there fast enough.

As y’all can pretty much imagine, that was a big fiasco…all over Tyson’s love for one woman- Robin. As a reminder of how rocky their marriage was, here’s a brief recap of it: Mike Tyson and Robin Givens married on February 7, 1988.  Tyson has oftentimes painted Givens as a gold digger, while Givens alleged that Tyson was abusive towards her. We all remember that awkward 1988 interview Tyson and Givens did with Barbara Walters… Givens claimed that Tyson had a volatile temper and was scary to be around.

“He’s got a side to him that’s scary,” Givens shared with Walters. “Michael is intimidating, to say the least. I think there’s a time when he cannot control his temper. And that’s frightening to me. To my mother. To anyone around.”

Although Givens claims were never proven,  she filed for divorce soon after that interview. Tyson later revealed that they still continued dating each other after the divorce, which was officially finalized on Valentine’s Day in 1989.

Welp, it’s just like the old school saying goes: ‘We live and we learn.’ For the record, it’s good to see that Tyson has long ago gotten over Robin and he’s also now a much more tamed down, down-to-earth, fun-loving dude these days.