Mike Tyson Undisputed Truth (Book)

[Money99]

I'm a little over 1/4 finished with this book.
So far it's been extremely entertaining. I'm at the point in his life where he's just destroyed Spinks and Don King and Ruth & Robin Givens are suing Bill Cayton to gain sole control of Tyson.

Tyson admits to being really messed up at this point in his life. With Jacobs and Cus gone, he doesn't have anyone to confide in and all the people left who should love him, only care about his money and controlling his empire.
He has mentioned several times that he wants to retire.

Tyson's very prophetic even from the beginnings of his amateur career. He talks about how he should have kept his head on straight from the beginning and that a lot of what happened later in his career was a direct result of how poorly he managed his life early on.

He's also extremely remorseful for how he treated and spoke to other fighters he went up against.

The one disappointing thing, so far, is that he glosses over his Olympic trials in only a page or two.
I was hoping he'd discuss his legendary sparring session with Holyfield.
But the only thing he really gives details on are his 2 fights against Tillman. He doesn't even say that much about those either, only that he felt he hurt Tillman and was the stronger fighter, but the judges felt Tillman won the fights based on amateur criteria.

It's a surprisingly long read (nearly 600 pages) and has been very hard to put down.

Even if you're not a Tyson fan, I'd recommend picking this up. Lots of great stories and insight.

P.S. Read George Chuvalo's book as well. Great, great read.

[LingeringRegime]

Re: Mike Tyson Undisputed Truth (Book)

Been meaning to pick this book up. I will by weeks end.

[Pappy Knuckles]

Re: Mike Tyson Undisputed Truth (Book)

Didn't even know about the book. Will purchase.

[pietasterp]

Re: Mike Tyson Undisputed Truth (Book)

Sounds interesting. I imagine it might even be better than the live show/movie that has been making the rounds on HBO, since Tyson's frenetic demeanor can be a bit distracting, and I find him most interesting when he's being quiet and introspective.

Off-topic to this thread, but on the topic of boxing books, a great one is Mark Kram's "Ghosts of Manilla". A lot of you guys have probably read this already or heard about it, but it's a pretty contrarian take on the Frazier-Ali feud and really de-mythologizes the Ali legacy quite a bit.

[pietasterp]

Re: Mike Tyson Undisputed Truth (Book)

Does he talk at length about Teddy Atlas at all? I mean, I know their spheres only interacted briefly, but in the stage performance/film, Tyson was pretty unrepentant about the whole Teddy Atlas/sister affair, which I thought showed an odd amount of blindness for a situation in which he was pretty clearly in the wrong (especially given that he's so candid about everything else in his life). I know he shook hands with Teddy at Friday Night Fights on ESPN a few months back, and it seems they 'sort-of' made up, but I dunno...still seems to be simmering dislike.

That sort of touches upon something that someone other than Tyson will probably have to comment on, which is that my impression of Cus d'Amato was that he was a great boxing trainer, but did not provide any kind of life guidance or fatherly teachings to any of his pupils, most notably Tyson (who I've heard he famously let get away with murder....figuratively, as far as we know....). Now maybe that's not his job, but if you bring these kids into your home and more-or-less raise them, it seems you at least owe them some lessons about life, not just how to throw a left hook. Tyson was already a bad kid - as he readily admits - but it seems Cus was focused on making him the best boxer possible, not necessarily the best person. He was basically training a pit-bull, in essence. But I wasn't there so I'm just relaying opinions formed from what I've heard over the years.

[Money99]

Re: Mike Tyson Undisputed Truth (Book)

Does he talk at length about Teddy Atlas at all? I mean, I know their spheres only interacted briefly, but in the stage performance/film, Tyson was pretty unrepentant about the whole Teddy Atlas/sister affair, which I thought showed an odd amount of blindness for a situation in which he was pretty clearly in the wrong (especially given that he's so candid about everything else in his life). I know he shook hands with Teddy at Friday Night Fights on ESPN a few months back, and it seems they 'sort-of' made up, but I dunno...still seems to be simmering dislike.

He admits to being in the wrong and speaks about what's going on in his head and why he goosed Atlas's niece-in-law.
I wouldn't say he's very repentant about what happened, but there is remorse there.
He also didn't say anything really derogatory about Atlas. It sounds like he respected him as his trainer.
I'm only 1/3rd through the book so maybe he talks about Teddy later on.

That sort of touches upon something that someone other than Tyson will probably have to comment on, which is that my impression of Cus d'Amato was that he was a great boxing trainer, but did not provide any kind of life guidance or fatherly teachings to any of his pupils, most notably Tyson (who I've heard he famously let get away with murder....figuratively, as far as we know....). Now maybe that's not his job, but if you bring these kids into your home and more-or-less raise them, it seems you at least owe them some lessons about life, not just how to throw a left hook. Tyson was already a bad kid - as he readily admits - but it seems Cus was focused on making him the best boxer possible, not necessarily the best person. He was basically training a pit-bull, in essence. But I wasn't there so I'm just relaying opinions formed from what I've heard over the years.

It's funny you say that.
He mentions Cus so often and speaks about him as a father figure.
But in his words, it does seem like the only common bond they had was boxing.
According to Tyson, Cus was constantly breaking him down and building him back up.
One minute he'd praise him, saying he was going to be the best fighter the world had ever seen. In the next, he was critiquing his lack of height, or any mistakes he had made in a recent fight.
I get the sense that Tyson wanted so badly to be loved and cared for. And if he had to use boxing to get that attention from Cus, then so-be-it.
That's basically why his career fell off the rails once he won the belts. He's made several mentions of how he really didn't care anymore once he beat Berbick.

On a side note, his experience(s) with Mitch Green are absolutely hilarious!
I didn't realize it extended beyond his fight in the ring and street with him.
It made me wish Green had written his own biography. He sounds like a crazy customer, haha.

[pietasterp]

Re: Mike Tyson Undisputed Truth (Book)

It's funny you say that.
He mentions Cus so often and speaks about him as a father figure.
But in his words, it does seem like the only common bond they had was boxing.
According to Tyson, Cus was constantly breaking him down and building him back up.
One minute he'd praise him, saying he was going to be the best fighter the world had ever seen. In the next, he was critiquing his lack of height, or any mistakes he had made in a recent fight.
I get the sense that Tyson wanted so badly to be loved and cared for. And if he had to use boxing to get that attention from Cus, then so-be-it.
That's basically why his career fell off the rails once he won the belts. He's made several mentions of how he really didn't care anymore once he beat Berbick.

Interesting stuff. I guess that's why I think someone other than Tyson would have to comment on Cus and his relationship w/ Mike, because Tyson had such reverence for Cus that he'd never really speak too ill of him or criticize him too much, as he obviously can't be too objective about their relationship. He might think Cus was a father-type figure, which he may have been, but others (like Atlas, who is also biased obviously) have more or less intimated that Cus was training an attack dog, not teaching him how to be a man. And even the whole Atlas' sister incident, while Teddy may have gone over the top in his reaction, it was Atlas that got kicked out of the 'family', not Tyson. And Cus allegedly knew Tyson was doing all sorts of terrible stuff but didn't care because he either was too focused on the boxing or just wanted to train a champion at all costs. Like I said, I don't want to cast aspersions because I wasn't there, but it's an interesting topic nonetheless if you're at all interested in what makes Tyson tick.

On a side note, his experience(s) with Mitch Green are absolutely hilarious!
I didn't realize it extended beyond his fight in the ring and street with him.
It made me wish Green had written his own biography. He sounds like a crazy customer, haha.

Yeah, he spends a lot of time in the stage show talking about it, but I'm sure there's tons more in the book. Definitely sounds like one of the more interesting parts of the story.

[Money99]

Re: Mike Tyson Undisputed Truth (Book)

pietasterp, I'm going to respond about the Cus dynamic in a spoiler.
I don't want to give too much away for those who are interested in getting the book.
What I'm putting in the spoiler isn't something that will ruin the book by anymeans as I'm only summarizing some of the stories, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone who wants to go in completely fresh.

Spoiler

Cus was the only one of the team that wanted Tyson to have a bulldog, gladiator type attitude.
He wanted him to exude a crass, vicious persona to scare the crap out of anyone who even thought about getting in the ring with Mike.
While Jim Jacobs and Bill Cayton were desperate for Mike to show a softer side to help better market him, Cus wanted him to be a bad MF'er who didn't care about what anyone said and took no prisoners.
In that regard, I think you're absolutely right with your assumption that Cus was only interested in building the next great champ.
He loathed the boxing establishment and wanted to show the world that he was still a great trainer.
I still think he cared for Tyson, but I get the feeling that Mike loved Cus more than Cus loved him back.
I really don't think Cus would have felt the same about Mike if he was an excellent gardner or painter.
Cus saw Mike as a way to become relevant in the boxing world again, while Mike saw a man who could give him something he never received from any parent; love and support.

[pietasterp]

Re: Mike Tyson Undisputed Truth (Book)

Really interesting; thanks for the added color, Money. I will probably pick the book up, since I enjoyed the stage show, and it sounds like he is more introspective and discusses things in more depth in the book. Conveniently, there's a break coming up and it's cold as h*ll out...