By Nehru Odeh
His name sounds like a shortened form of the word, university, and he has the universe working in his favour. Yet when Uni Kaya, a German artist, was painting the portrait of Mike Tyson, the legendary boxing champion staging a comeback to the ring, he never knew how he was going to present it to him. Tyson is based in the United States, while Kaya lives in Germany.
However, the painting has brought to the fore Tyson’s soft and humane side. It has shown that the boxer who is legendary for knocking out opponents in the boxing ring is not just brawn and muscles after all, but has blood and human kindness flowing in his veins. No sooner than Kaya posted the painting in one of Tyson’s fans group than someone from his team reached out to him, asking for the painting, which made the artist travel to the United States to present the painting to Tyson. For Kaya, who had looked forward to meeting the boxing legend someday, it was a dream come true.
Kaya posted the photo he took with Tyson in the United States and told his story on Facebook on Wednesday, 13 May, 2020.
He wrote:
“Meeting Mike Tyson at the Tyson Ranch. I did this painting with the intention of personally delivering it to him because he has undergone a deep spiritual journey in the past two years. Just three days after I posted my vision of him someone from his team reached out to me asking about the painting. Three month later I flew from Germany to LA to gift it to him. We spoke about psychedelics and our journey through life and death. But he was also seriously interested in what I do and asked questions. It’s so exciting to see someone like him who was really troubled in his younger years transform into someone so humble and relaxed.”
The post has generated curiosity and interest on Facebook. Asked what Tyson’s reactions were when he saw him, Kaya said:
“Mike said to me: “You crazy man. You came all the way from Germany and you didn’t even know if you get to meet me! I told him that you can only win the game if you play it. Mike said that Alexander the Great said that you can achieve anything if you try.
“It’s always nice to hear what people see in my art. It is a pigeon because Mike breeds them since he was a young kid. The toad is the buff alvarius toad which has a secretion of 5meo-dmt. Mike did some ceremonies with it and had breakthrough from it. You find some interviews of him speaking about his toad experience on YouTube.”
Below are the comments of some Facebook users.
Sharon Burciaga Amazing!
Hope Thomas You don’t know Dionne Warwick do you?
Tanjila Cardone Wow congratulations that is an amazing painting and one of a kind experience!
Susan Guner Great job
María José You are a good artist
Megan Moore I really love your work!
Jenny Bouchami Fabulous, a fantastic way of connecting & sharing!
Sarah Carter What an incredible story. Seems like you were meant to meet each other. Your painting is wonderful
Rachel Altenbacher Incredible, what a treasure
Joshua Rupe Cool
Nicola Eva Beautiful
Shandy Ortiz Absolutely amazing artwork
Arianna Evangelista This is amazing and so inspiring! Thank you for sharing
Steve Junior That’s amazing! Your action matched your intention and you got exactly what you were envisioning! Congrats! And awesome painting!! You deserved this! ❤
Jess Cha That is amazing you are a wonderful person and soul.
Tarak Uday Uni Kaya That is DOPE! and so is your work! Where can we see more of it?
Emmah Feenan A m a z i n g
Shujaat Saeed Great
Cynthia Youell Love it..!1
Danyelle Smith Cotten beautiful….he does seem to give off the most relaxed energy I’ve seen when he talks to people <3 I love it
Ojais Ojuro Well done work
Charisma Killebrew Harris Your vision and spirit made a very strong connection…. What a wonderful experience that must have been. Congratulations
Lisa-Kerry Shultz-Schnoke You are super talented my friend. Fantastic work and very cool story thanks for the share!
Erik James Hammer I love Mike Tyson
Jimmy Ditto That is absolutely amazing much love and respect the painting is stellar
MacKenzie Koncher-Casiano That’s awesome, and beautiful art. Do you have an instagram for your artwork?
Amy Little Incredibly beautiful❤️👌🏼
Mary Anne Burgan Love the pic & story. Beautiful
Meghan Tracey Uni this is such an awesome story! I am an artist (I do portraits too), and if something like this happened to me I would be in awe and so grateful! Thank you for sharing!
Jamie Shurick Amazing painting 😍
Susan Therese Grimes Well done…that is a deep piece
Xavier El dope
Bianca Celis Sold weed to him back when I worked at a dispensary. He is a genuine person that loves when fans treat him like a human being
Dinia Will Very nice work!!
Meghan Christine Monokian Beautiful
Frank Eisenhauer Talking about pulling energy into your reality!
Kate Hastings Beautiful
Spencej Jeremy Love Mike Tyson
I always did …
Tania Anita Wow
Coralene Donison That’s amazing!
Clive Canal I love the piece, very true to his journey of self awakening.
Geraldine Smyth Amazing piece of art!
Simon Jaafar Respect
Connie Johnson Very nice.
I know he must love that painting.
Tania Velez It’s amazing how the connections happen seamlessly now. Thank you for sharing your vision and story. Magical!
F Ibrahim Joubert Wow I love this!! Your painting is amazing also
Jacqueline Torto Ross That’s awesome!
Rachel Rassack You can paint me any day
Rachel Rassack Uni Kaya I’ll keep that in mind lol
It’s great work !!
Heather Joy What a magnificent painting! Well done
Trelly Trelle I did ayahuasca, I wanna try the toad next
Delia Teresa Yes he seems really peaceful now so happy for him and that is one hell of a painting he really loves it u can tell
Alejandra Ruz 😍thanks for share!! Congrats
Rosanna Phare Amazing artist ❤
Brian Berger I am happy for you man.
Thunder Kat Amazing 🥰
Samatha Deaton That’s awesome
Pilar Castrillon Thank you very much for sharing , I love the the picture 😍 you are an amazing artist! I can’t wait to see what a Mike Tyson is going to do with his life what an amazing life this guy is having, I am so proud of him
J.d. Dodds Awesome bro💪🏻Iron Mike’s getting back in the ring soon
Kris Maestas ❤️transformers more than meets the eye.
Tanja Keita Mohammed Respect and for ever blessing to you for this painting, i swear if I was a millionaire, i could send you $75000 USD just for painting my friend like this, be a God in Dreams and bless our eyes for ever
Tanja Keita Mohammed Uni Kaya blessing to you always my king
Zerubabel Beyene Woah man. Big ups!
Andrew Abdulai Amazing
Lupe Avila This is a bad ass painting
Shelia Bayes We have been talking about him a lot recently at our house. Love seeing this side of him!! Congrats …. put your intentions out in the universe.
Bec Kurtz Wow. How awesome
Steve Smith Way cool my friend 😎
Arthur Minimbi Wow.. just watched a show on Tyson brand of weed
Judy Teo Awesome !
Mel Calm Wrzyszczynski Mike is a legend!
Joe Roberts Would be awesome if you posted this to the Mike Tyson group. They would love to this. Awesome painting
Marty Kaye Q Beautiful
Jasmine Morrow Beautiful
Donna J Wall Love it
Nisha Patel That is some incredible art! Your post is a lovely example of the possibility of transformation. It’s never too late or impossible.
Amanda Beecroft Love this, very cool story!!! Amazing painting. You are very talented!!
Jan E Creech Great picture
Deborah Tinsley Great painting!
Lilly Fitzgerald Amazing. You have every right to feel proud for this, great work 😊 great story behind it aswel.
Vessi Graham This is so beautiful!❤
Dror Venezia He was on dmt? Ayahuasca?
Brenda Victoria Cool !
Chloë Ellis That’s amazing 😍 so talented!
Thabo Maria That is such a beautiful painting of Mike
Brian BK Kelley Love Mike!
Rainer Anael Ogoniba Can we get a single picture of that piece of art?
Kirsty McGlynn Kelly Uni Kaya the toad/frog the smoke – can you give me a wee bit more context? Is that a phoenix? I see so many things in the photo. Congratulations
Breanna Bowdish Kirsty McGlynn Kelly I believe its a Phoenix supposed to symbolize being reborn from the hardships if im not mistaken
Shyanne Kelly Beautiful Painting! ❤
Kaur Gurpreet Btiful…..painting n d gesture, both
Michael David Climmer Amazing art for an amazing man
Tammie Ladyredd Kemp Beautiful ❤❤❤
Darci Woods Incredible experience. Beautiful job on the painting
Victoria Thorpe Incredible talent. Love this ❤
Jeremy Wįlear You both inspire me, thanks!
Deb Simard I love this painting! Wow…you have amazing talent young man! As for Michael, l am so happy to hear that he is on a spiritual journey. Bless you both!! xx
Cuahutemoc Flores beautiful….
Dale Brendan Hyde Great painting pal n a great trip out to meet a legend
Journey Rei Morris Beautiful painting… wow… absolutely beautiful
Stacey Gilding Love this 👌🏼 also that painting is insane!
Ramon Tuynman Dude, awesome story. Thanks for sharing
Coley Claire Most people are good deep down, some are just more troubled than others due to life experiences that can leave them feeling like lost souls, for some it will last for a while and others until their last breath, am glad he has found his calm. 😊✨
Coley Claire Great painting by the way
Johanna Landt Hmmm… am I totally wrong but didn’t he abuse his girlfriend?🤔
Johanna Landt Uni Kaya ok thats said it all.
Cherie Scott The painting is incredible, bravo
Melissa Rodriguez People evolve and grow and I believe you captured that in your artwork. I am sure he was gracious to be able to have such a beautiful reminder that all his inner struggles were leading him to his true self.
Bianca Jones I love his transformation! An amazing example of shadow work. I used to be scared of him when I was a little girl, but now my spirit takes to him and I have so much love and admiration for this man and his journey! What an amazing opportunity you both had to meet each other ☺
Fionnuala Odowd Beautiful painting,lovely energy coming from it.much joy.
Nick Heron How amazing!! You have a brilliant talent too!
Dipps Gudka That’s absolutely AMAZING!!!!!
And you’re sooooo gifted!! Beautiful! MAGICAL!
Kelly Webster Wow I got goosebumps… X
Faria Hasin What’s that reptile like thing in painting? Around the heart.
Jordan Smyth Faria Hasin Bufo Alvarius. Frog with psychedelic venom.
Donna Perry Aw wow!!! This is fantastic for you! Well done. You should be proud! Your painting is amazing
Salva Rassu Beautiful❤
Sara Tomasi Awesome journey for you, for him, for the change… You rock!!
Lene Benjamin A warrior and a fighter. Looks like he’s won with everyone.👍
Ken Boo CODE RED !!
6 FEET APART ❤❤
Chris Franks awesome
Energy Healer ❤👁❤
Ray Kibria Love mike I listen to everyone of his podcasts. He is a total different person since his awakening.
Wrist Slit alles gute
Cassandra Bouchard wooow what a wonderful story! thank you for sharing, that must of been an amazing experiance.
Charlie Wisell Thats amazing
Geoffrey Caesar Wow that’s beautiful, just yesterday I was watching him video how he changed and today this story. This is instant manifestation
Bibian Green Amazing
Suzzie Sheri Wow! Beautiful!
Crystal Rose Glaka Beautiful painting!
Lisamarie Boncek Great story
Kasey Renee Todd So awesome.
Caren Krutsinger Gorgeous painting wonderful story!
Petra Peace Well done on creating your own reality!
Emily Love Inspirational! So happy for you. Dreams are so real. 💚
Mayuri Patwardhan Wonderful. Dreams do come true. 🔥👏💯
Dude thays freaking dope !!!
Jose J Quijada Do you have an Instagram?
Katie Bouwma Taylor Your art is amazing! ❤️
Randy Raines That’s awesome man!! Good for you! And your art work is amazing!! ❤️
Stephan van Halsema Amazing❤
Celia Medina That’s amazing, good for you! And him!that painting is amazing!
Natalie Wood Howard Your painting is amazing!!! Thank you for sharing!
Erin Clark Btw I like your ink
Ollie McGregor Love your painting . 💜
Lisa Sanchez Awesome
Victor J. Burkhart That’s awesome man!!!
Linda Stanfield Hartman Your story warms my heart. Way to go Mike Tyson!! ❤
Bobbi Pethtal Kraus Awesome
Brandi Barnes That’s fucking dope✌
Vigilia Vigi Wow! ❤
Saskia van den Berg Thats so cool
Kelsey Marie Moungey McConville you are a beautiful soul
Colm Verdon Amazing,)
Theresa Navarrett Minkel That’s a great painting! So glad he reached out to you!
Traci Miller I love this amazing ❤
Souad Sbai Beautiful 🙏
Elijah Lewis Ase
Kelly Jean Ayers-Patterson Beautiful souls ❤ your the coolest
Mariah Bromfield Incredible
Bobbi Vogel Viva Ayahuasca ♥
Ray Mallard You are an amazing person I would be blessed to meet you
Jasin Chang Super cool
Cora Rijks Amazing painting!
Amber Durante Love this
Myranda LeMaster-Wade Really cool dude! Way to go!
Jordan Fehr Your alignment is incredible. That is amazing to hear of your manifestations towards your dreams and goals. Beautiful ❣
Sarah Ann Oh wow! This is really beautiful ❤️
Susie Anderson Taylor Uni I think this is so humbling and absolutely wonderful. Your artistry is elevated.
I am really embracing my Native American heritage (I’m half Native). Anyways I have always felt a maternal thing for Mike and I’m so grateful he has found his way out by looking inward. Do you have more artwork available?
Olufemi Ae Seeing you two painted another picture inside me.
Jessica Akas It’s Amazing
Sj Monastra A true blessing.
Sue Lazenby Bless
Kris Bubo Hatter Awesome work
Margaret Cornelius Stay blessed both of you ❤
Ray Armijo 💯awesome
Gemma Louise Fantastic work!
Vanessa Vitek Domoleczny That’s beautiful
Lita Emery Beautiful yes i have yo say i was a tyson hater for years but seeing him in joe rogan podcast i did see his journey in a whole new light. Your work is devine
Dean Antony what happened to your arm, just curious
Willow Baillie What an amazing experience 🙂 power of attraction is beautiful and incredible eh
Rene Carl Pretty cool. Love your painting.
Paris Ryan Outstanding