Retired professional boxer Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion of the world in 1986, at age 20. He lost the title in 1990 and later served three years in prison after being convicted on rape charges. Tyson subsequently earned further notoriety by biting off part of opponent Evander Holyfield’s ear during a 1997 match. Since retiring from boxing in 2005, Tyson has appeared in several movies and TV shows, become a best-selling author, and launched a successful cannabis business.
The age difference between the two is an inescapable, circuslike element in how the fight has been promoted and covered. The thirty-one-year age gap between Tyson and Paul is reminiscent of the multi-decade age gap presented in a fictional fight in the 2006 film Rocky Balboa. The difference is also greater than that in another major fight in Tyson’s career, when, at twenty-one, he decimated thirty-eight-year-old Larry Holmes with a fourth-round knockout. Tyson takes a breath before considering any parallels between this fight and the one from 1988. He is unbothered being on the other side of a younger challenger. Tyson, who is a summa cum laude scholar when it comes to the history of boxing, notes one “big fundamental difference” between the bouts. There are levels to these mind games, and no one has weaponized the word YouTuber quite like him.
Harry Haft is a boxer who used his skills to survive the concentration camp he was imprisoned in. Follow along as Harry later pursues high-profile fights in hope of reconnecting with his first love in this touching true story.
Hulu released the first two episodes of “Mike” on August 25 and the remaining six will be made available on the following six Thursdays. Episode 1, “Thief,” and Episode 2, “Monster,” focus on his childhood, early arrests for street crimes, and the beginning of his boxing career. Tyson is portrayed as an underconfident and overweight kid who gets his first taste of violence when a neighborhood bully beheads one of his beloved pigeons in front of him. The young Tyson bloodies the bully’s face with a flurry of punches before the scene cuts to his 1988 win over Leon Spinks, then back to the young Tyson kneeling over the fallen bully. In a voiceover, he says, “That’s when things started to change.”
“Mike” is the brainchild of creator-director Steven Rogers, showrunner-writer Karin Gist and the rest of the team behind I, Tonya (another dramatization of a notorious ’90s athlete, figure skater Tonya Harding). The limited eight-episode production—the first five installments of which were made available to the media—does not include the participation of the real-life Tyson. Suffice to say, he is none too happy about the project. He’s been railing against “mike tyson young photos” for weeks, claiming on Instagram, “They stole my life story and didn’t pay me.”
A month later, Tyson’s co-manager, Jim Jacobs, died. While Tyson was at the funeral, his wife Robin was at the bank, demanding to know the whereabouts of “her money.” Shortly thereafter, they confronted Tyson’s surviving manager, Bill Cayton, demanding a full accounting and ultimately reducing his share of the champ’s earnings from one-third to 20 percent. Tyson’s behavior became increasingly erratic, ramming cars into trees, getting into a street brawl with boxer Mitch Green and, on a disastrous trip to Russia, chasing Robin and her mother through the hotel corridors in a drunken rage. In a nationally televised interview with Barbara Walters, Givens told America of her “life of horror” with a manic-depressive Mike Tyson, while the heavyweight champ sat meekly at her side, looking to some observers like a tranquilized pit bull. Shortly after the interview Tyson smashed up furniture, glassware, and windows at their mansion in Bernardsville, N.J., and Givens fled to Los Angeles, where she filed for divorce. At the time, she was generally seen as the villain. Her image was splashed across the tabloids with the simple caption: Most Hated Woman in America.
The fight was originally scheduled for July 20, but postponed because of a recent ulcer flare-up for the 57-year-old Tyson. According to a representative, Tyson became dizzy and nauseated while flying from Miami to Los Angeles on May 26. Paramedics boarded the plane upon landing to assist him. Doctors subsequently advised Tyson to do minimal to no training in the coming weeks, upsetting the original timeline for the fight.
Days after Tyson filed his suit against King, two women sued the boxer after they said he verbally and physically assaulted them at a Washington restaurant. They sought $22.5 million in damages. The parties reached a confidential settlement in 2000.
When it comes to boxing, who better to learn from than one of the best fighters of all time, Mike Tyson. The goal is to watch, listen, and learn, absorbing as much information as possible. Tyson has been through it all – from being the youngest heavyweight champ ever, to filing bankruptcy, to making millions a second time around. His life experiences helped shape him into the man he is today, and now he is passing along his knowledge to others.