Mike Tyson is a convicted rapist and bankrupt alcoholic who beat up autograph-hunters, threatened to eat Lennox Lewis’ children and did eat the ear of Evander Holyfield. After reading his autobiography though, he remains one of my sports heroes!
Tyson’s biography is a knockout. 564 pages of violence, debauchery, tragedy, farce, contrition, redemption and relapse.
How can one admire somebody seemingly so repulsive? Part sympathy, part admiration is the answer. The Tyson story is as much a fairy-tale as it is a horror show.
Tyson was the victim of a savage upbringing. Aged 10 he had a gun pointed at his penis in a New York park. Even younger, Tyson witnessed his alcoholic mother get punched in the face by a volatile boyfriend, who then received boiling water down his bare back as revenge. Tyson was arrested 38 times by the age of 13!
Tyson escaped his life of street violence and petty theft through the guidance of Cus D’Amato, the boxing version of Mr Miyagi.
D’Amato was an old, completely paranoid, but unquestionably inspiring father-figure to Tyson. Helped by a small stable of eccentric, but caring characters, like Kevin Rooney, Bill Clayton and Jim Jacobs, Tyson was groomed into the youngest-ever heavyweight champion of the world, aged 20 years and four months.
Tyson then rampaged through the heavyweight division, becoming the richest and most famous athlete on the planet. His record was 37-0 before he lost to Buster Douglas in 1990. Tyson achieved 24 of his 44 career knockouts in the first round!
The Douglas defeat was a shocker but even worse was the emergence of the gold diggers in his life – first actress Robin Givens, then promoter Don King.
Then there was the night he spent with model Desiree Washington.
Whatever you make of Tyson’s pleas of innocence in the rape case brought by Washington, the outcome was stacked against Tyson from the start. Tyson’s defence lawyer, Vincent Fuller, foolishly used the defence “she-knew-Tyson-was-a-beastly-creature”.
Another lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, filed an appeal on Tyson’s behalf, alleging the victim had a history of at least one false accusation of rape and the judge had blocked testimony from witnesses who would have contradicted Washington. The appeal failed.
Tyson went down. His life fell apart.
Tyson says a friend he names as ‘Calvin’ told him about a “hoodoo woman”, who said if he filled a jar with $500, peed in it and then brought it to her she would pray for him to get out of jail.
Tyson claims while serving his sentence for rape, he started a relationship with his drug counselor when he gave her $10,000 to fix the roof of her house.
Tyson says his limo contained a spa bath and he lost $65 million in a year.
Tyson admits to being on drugs during several fights in the 2000s. He says he took marijuana and cocaine before walking to the ring against Lou Savarese at Hampden Park in 2000. Tyson knocked him out in 38 seconds.
Tyson says during periods of drug addiction he would use a “whizzer” – a fake penis filled with clean urine – in order to pass drug tests.
Tyson had his last fight in 2005. He took an early seat against Irishman Kevin McBride. It was a meek anticlimax to the most fearsome career.
Tyson, capable of extraordinary generosity, has since made repeated efforts through rehab and a fledgling film and stage career to get his life sorted. But just when things are going good disaster always strikes. The temptations of the bottle or something stronger resurface. In 2009, his four-year-old daughter tragically died.
In 2002, Lennox Lewis said of Tyson at a press conference, “Hey I had it tough too. At some point you’re responsible for yourself. That’s the bottom line on Mike Tyson.”
No Lennox, the bottom line on Mike Tyson is he is a true original!
Totally flawed? Absolutely! Totally real? Absolutely!
Mike Tyson, an antihero!
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