INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Mike Tyson Hoverboard Fall Becomes Hilarious Punch-Out Meme (Video)

By Toni Matthews
Published on: 01:39 PST, Dec 31, 2015

Watching “Iron” Mike Tyson fall off a hoverboard was hilarious enough in the eyes of the internet. However, add a Punch-Out!! meme, and it becomes comedy gold.

In case you missed it (or for some reason passed on watching the video above), Mike Tyson was testing out a hoverboard while being recorded by his daughter. He seemed to be having fun until about several seconds later, when he took a tumble.

It’s not often you’ll see the 49-year-old former heavyweight boxing champion go down for the count, and someone on the internet decided to make this opportunity count. According to ESPN, the Mike Tyson “hoverboard fail” was reimagined as an epic K.O. from his legendary Nintendo game: Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!

In the short clip, we see the referee, which may or may not be Mario, announce the start of the “fight.” That’s when protagonist Lil Mac gets his sweet revenge on “game boss” Mike Tyson by transforming the embarrassing trip and fall into a one-hit K.O.

“We know that Iron Mike’s one weakness is hoverboards, as evidenced by this painful-looking video. For those of us who spent hours trying and failing to dodge Tyson’s uppercut — and that would be everyone as no one has ever beaten video game Mike Tyson — one brave soul decided to edit the video like so.”

ESPN writer Joe DeMartino says that as far as he is concerned, the above clip represents the only true footage of anyone ever defeating the Mike Tyson Punch-Out!! game. Quipped DeMartino, “All other videos are definitely not real.”

The Punch-Out!! meme is a great throwback reference to a time when Mike Tyson was a terrifying giant in the boxing world. This was represented in the game, as lamented by Joe. In Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, you play as up-and-coming boxer Lil Mac. You’ll also note the boxing video game features opponents almost several times the size of the character you play as.

What’s interesting is that before boxing weight classes were firmly established by the 1920 “Walker Law,” the mismatch in size and strength seen throughout this video game were entirely possible. Weight classes exist, and fighters attempt to lose or gain weight to make fights fairer. As you can see in Punch-Out!!, no such effort seems to be made at any point in the game.

As for Mike Tyson and his hoverboard fail, it was certainly the Christmas gift that kept giving beyond a repeatedly watched clip. While the resulting Punch-Out!! meme has certainly taken off, it’s not the only response that the internet had to Tyson delivering a self-knockout.

Of course, there were a few jokes to be had over the Punch-Out!! meme.

In the comments section of the ESPN article, commenters seemed to be more interested in expressing skepticism as to whether or not Mike Tyson was as unbeatable a final boss, as the writer suggested.

Facebook user Aaron Smith bragged that he beat the Mike Tyson character “routinely.” Meanwhile, Sean Harmon claimed, “You had to use a certain combo then KHTFO with an uppercut!!” A lot of good that does Joe or any other person that was stumped by Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! a few decades ago!

As for Mike Tyson, he seems to be taking the entire matter in stride. After all, it was via Mike Tyson that we got the highly meme-worthy clip in the first place. Some have already compared it to the legendary fall video, “Scarlet Takes A Tumble.”

Mike Tyson just might have launched himself back into pop culture relevancy with a single fall video. It’s doubtful anyone saw that coming.

Why do you think people enjoy watching hilariously bad things happen to famous people? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

[Image via mmadigest/YouTube]

Share this article: Mike Tyson Hoverboard Fall Becomes Hilarious Punch-Out Meme (Video)
mike tyson
More from Inquisitr