Meeting of Giants

When he thinks about his earlier years, Mike says he definitely regrets his abusive behavior toward women. "I have nobody to blame but myself. But during that period of my life when I did that, I had no role models. I was a young little kid, and no one ever taught me," he says. "Where I came from, it was cool if some chick got in your way to give her a smack."

A time came when Mike had to shift his thinking, but it was hard, he says. "When everything you believed in, everything that made you successful in your life, you realize is a lie, then you have to start over. Sometimes you just don't know where to start."

These days, Mike says he follows the example of men he admires. "I just watch from a distance," he says. "I just watch people in life and I take this from him—the way he holds his cigarette, the way he talks to people—the assertiveness of that guy and I just take everything into my everyday life. I watch television and watch people in the street and I add that."