Mike Tyson has quit boxing after losing to unknown Irish fighter Kevin McBride. The loss is his third in his last four fights. Tyson threw in the towel at the end of the sixth round of his fight. He later admitted that he didn’t “have the fighting guts anymore”. This fight must surely signal the end for the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world. His disastrous comeback must now surely be over. He was a shadow of the powerful boxer that scared and hurt opponents in his younger days.

In a news conference after the fight, Tyson, 38, said: “This is it. I’m finished…It’s just not in my heart. I’m just not interested in fighting anymore.” However, he has debts of over $30 million and his creditors want their money. It may not be too long before he enters the ring again to earn more cash to pay his debts. Unfortunately, he may become more of a well paid circus performer than a boxer. Regardless, the $5 million he earned for fighting McBride will help ease the pain a little. His missionary work may have to be put on hold.

WARM-UPS

1. QUITTING: Have you ever quit something? Are you a quitter? Talk with your partner(s) about the times you have quit. Is there anything you want to quit now? The following ideas may be helpful in your conversations:

A job Smoking Studying A relationship with someone

Trying to please other people Trying to be a better person Trying to lose weight Other

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Mike Tyson / boxing / comebacks / guts / champions / heart / fighting / debts / circus performers / pain

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

3. BOXING: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with boxing. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

4. 2-MINUTE BOXING DEBATES: With a partner, take part in these fun 2-minute debates. Students A strongly believe in the opinions on the left, Students B support the opinions on the right. Change partners often.

1. Boxing is the world’s most exciting sport. vs. Most of the time boxing is boring.
2. Boxing is a cruel sport. vs. Boxing is a sport full of passion.
3. Boxing is a blood sport. vs. People love to see blood.
4. Mike Tyson is bad for boxing. vs. Boxing needs bad guys.
5. $20 million for one fight is too much. vs. Boxers work hard and suffer pain.
6. Boxing should be banned. It’s too dangerous. vs. People die in other sports too.
7. Mike Tyson should stop now. vs. Mike Tyson should keep going – he’s an entertainer.
8. Women should never be allowed to box. vs. It’s great that women box too.

5. CHAMPIONS: Is Mike Tyson the greatest boxer ever? Who is? Talk with your partner(s) about the greatest ever boxing and other sporting champions. Who is the greatest sportsperson ever from your country? Who is the greatest sportswoman ever? Who is the greatest world sportsperson ever? Change partners and compare the people you talked about with your first partner(s).

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Mike Tyson has ended his boxing career.	T / F
b.	Mike Tyson lost a fight to the heavyweight champion of the world.	T / F
c.	Mike Tyson said he didn’t have the guts to fight any more.	T / F
d.	Tyson was a shadow of the boxer he used to be.	T / F
e.	Tyson is quitting boxing due to heart problems.	T / F
f.	He is still interested in boxing.	T / F
g.	Tyson owes people over $300 million.	T / F
h.	He may have to box again to pay his debts.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	loss	frightened
b.	threw in the towel	high income
c.	guts	quit
d.	disastrous	money
e.	scared	terrible
f.	debts	defeat
g.	cash	got
h.	well paid	arrears
i.	earned	lessen
j.	ease	stomach

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	Tyson threw in	the end
b.	at the end of the	days
c.	he didn’t have the	conference
d.	signal	fighting guts anymore
e.	in his younger	over $30 million
f.	news	the pain
g.	he has debts of	the towel
h.	he enters	performer
i.	circus	the ring again
j.	help ease	sixth round of his fight

WHILE READING / LISTENING

WORD ORDER: Put the underlined words back into the correct order.

Defeated Mike Tyson quits boxing

Mike Tyson has quit boxing losing unknown after to Irish fighter Kevin McBride. The loss is his third last in four his fights. Tyson threw in the towel at the end of the sixth round of his fight. He later admitted that he didn’t “guts fighting have the anymore”. This fight must surely end the signal for the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world. His disastrous comeback must now surely be over. He was a shadow of the powerful boxer that scared and hurt opponents days his in younger.

In a news conference after the fight, Tyson, 38, said: “This is it. I’m finished…It’s just my heart not in. I’m just not interested in fighting anymore.” However, over he debts has of $30 million and his creditors want their money. It may long too not be before he enters the ring again to earn more cash debts to his pay. Unfortunately, he may become more of a well paid circus performer than a boxer. Regardless, the $5 million he earned for fighting McBride will ease the pain help a little.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘quit’ and ‘boxing’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. WORD ORDER: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers.

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT BOXING SURVEY: In pairs / groups write down questions about boxing.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

quit third towel signal disastrous shadow

conference heart creditors ring circus ease the pain

 DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. What was your initial reaction to this headline?
2. What adjective(s) describe your feelings about this story?
3. What do you think about boxing?
4. What do you think about boxers?
5. Why do you think people want to fight in the ring?
6. Why is a boxing ring square?
7. Do you respect Mike Tyson for fighting at the age of 38?
8. How does boxing compare with other sports like karate, K1, Thai boxing, sumo, etc?
9. Have you ever thrown in the towel?
10. Would you fight a heavyweight boxer for $5 million?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. Are you interested in boxing news?
3. Are you interested in news of Mike Tyson’s scandals?
4. Would you like to try boxing?
5. Do you like watching men punch each other?
6. What do you think of women’s boxing?
7. Do you think boxing should be banned?
8. Is $5 million too much to give Mike Tyson for losing a fight?
9. Should Mike Tyson stop boxing or keep fighting?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

SPORTING SAFETY: You are on the panel of the Safety in Sport Committee. It is your job to (1) find the dangers involved in two sports and (2) offer safety advice to reduce those dangers. Discuss your ideas with your partner(s) and write them in the table. Students A talk together about boxing and tennis, Students B talk about soccer and marathon running.

SPORT	DANGERS	SAFETY ADVICE
Boxing	• • • •	• • • •
Tennis	• • • •	• • • •

 

SPORT	DANGERS	SAFETY ADVICE
Soccer	• • • •	• • • •
Marathon running	• • • •	• • • •

Change partners so that Students A talk to Students B. Tell each other your ideas for increasing the safety of the sports you discussed earlier. Give each other feedback on the usefulness of your advice. Is it good or bad? Will sports players accept it?

Return to your original partners and discuss and agree on any changes you made.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Defeated Mike Tyson quits boxing

Mike Tyson has quit boxing after ______ __ ________ Irish fighter Kevin McBride. The loss is his third __ ___ ____ ____ fights. Tyson
_____ __ ___ ______ at the end of the sixth round of his fight. He later admitted that he didn’t “have the fighting guts anymore”. This fight must surely ______ ___ ___ for the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world. His disastrous comeback must now surely be over. He was
__ ______ ___ ____ powerful boxer that scared and hurt opponents in his younger days.

In a news conference after the fight, Tyson, 38, said: “____ __ __. I’m finished…It’s just not in my heart. I’m ____ ___ _________ ___ fighting anymore.” However, he has debts of over $30 million and his creditors want their money. It may ___ __ ___ _____ before he enters the ring again to earn more cash to pay his debts. Unfortunately, he may become more of __ ____ ____ ______ performer than a boxer. Regardless, the $5 million he earned for fighting McBride will help ____ ___ ____ a little.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on the Mike Tyson. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. QUITTING: Write about a time you quit something and threw in the towel. How long and how hard did you try? Was it an easy or difficult decision to quit? How do you feel now about your decision? Tell your story to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you have similar feelings about quitting?

4. A LETTER: Write a letter to Mike Tyson. Tell him what you think of his decision to quit and what he should do from now. Read your letter to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. F

c. T

d. T

e. F

f. F

g. F

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	loss	defeat
b.	threw in the towel	quit
c.	guts	stomach
d.	disastrous	terrible
e.	scared	frightened
f.	debts	arrears
g.	cash	money
h.	well paid	high income
i.	earned	got
j.	ease	lessen

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	Tyson threw in	the towel
b.	at the end of the	sixth round of his fight
c.	he didn’t have the	fighting guts anymore
d.	signal	the end
e.	in his younger	days
f.	news	conference
g.	he has debts of	over $30 million
h.	he enters	the ring again
i.	circus	performer
j.	help ease	the pain

WORD ORDER:

Defeated Mike Tyson quits boxing

Mike Tyson has quit boxing after losing to unknown Irish fighter Kevin McBride. The loss is his third in his last four fights. Tyson threw in the towel at the end of the sixth round of his fight. He later admitted that he didn’t “have the fighting guts anymore”. This fight must surely signal the end for the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world. His disastrous comeback must now surely be over. He was a shadow of the powerful boxer that scared and hurt opponents in his younger days.

In a news conference after the fight, Tyson, 38, said: “This is it. I’m finished…It’s just not in my heart. I’m just not interested in fighting anymore.” However, he has debts of over $30 million and his creditors want their money. It may not be too long before he enters the ring again to earn more cash to pay his debts. Unfortunately, he may become more of a well paid circus performer than a boxer. Regardless, the $5 million he earned for fighting McBride will help ease the pain a little.

 

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