Iron Mike is Back

by Ron Futrell @RonFutrell

What Mike Tyson did throughout much of his boxing career, he is now doing on stage.

Punch, jab, and throw a devastating upper cut.

“I’m still afraid of him, and he’s dead,” Tyson on his mentor Cus D’Amato.

I went into Mike Tyson: The Undisputed Truth at the MGM Grand without expectations. I covered Mike’s career in Las Vegas from start to finish and found him both endearing and difficult. The “bipolar” news from years ago was no shock to me. I could interview Mike one day and he would invite my boys to watch his workouts at Johnny Tocco’s Ringside Gym (which he did,) and the next time he would lash out at my questions and call me a “smart ass” (which he did-and I was.)

Unlike others, I was not really surprised at Tyson’s ability to pull this off. I had seen a preview of this performance years earlier. In the late 80’s before a fight at the Las Vegas Hilton, Tyson invited the media to his hotel room for interviews. It was a different environment than a news conference and Tyson was much more comfortable. He sat there for an hour or so and talked boxing history. Before that, I was not aware of how much Mike had made himself a student of the sport, and I certainly had no idea how he could entertain a handful of crotchety writers and cynical TV guys. A sign of things to come.

“When I fought in this town it was shut down, it was a hoe-asis,” Tyson on fighting in Las Vegas.

Tyson speaks openly and honestly about his career, his many successes and his many mistakes. I guess the mistakes are always the most entertaining.

The shocking loss to Buster Douglas in Japan (Tyson was a 36-1 favorite) was due to Mike having sex early and often with Japanese maids that stopped by to “clean” his hotel room, so he says. On this one, I would’ve advised Tyson to look at the career of Marvin Hagler, who said he swore off sex for 6 weeks before a fight because it made his legs weak and he wanted to hate his opponent for keeping him away from his wife. Even if Mike knew the Hagler stories, it doesn’t seem he would’ve listened anyway.

“I never knew I had just met the devil,” Tyson on his alignment with Don King.

Perhaps Tyson’s biggest problem back then was his association with Don King, which he clearly acknowledges. Many of us in the media could see this trouble coming. I was outside the Indiana prison in 1995 on a cool morning in March when we were doing live coverage of Tyson’s release. Everybody was waiting to see who would pick Tyson up after his 3 years behind bars. There was a groan, but no surprise when the inverted mop-top of King emerged from the black limo to head inside the facility to pick up Indiana’s most famous inmate. From that point on Tyson's career fell faster than Marvis Frazier after the uppercut.

“She’s gonna use this show to re-launch her career,” Tyson on Robin Givens.

At times Tyson talks softly and quickly and is hard to understand, but those are the times when you get the impression that he is going off script and those are the best parts of the show.

Yes, he talks about the Ear Bite Fight, 1997 against Evander Holyfield, a fight that took place in the same casino as the current performance. He uses the same excuse he used that night; that he was being head butted by Evander (which he was) and that since he was in a fight, he just decided to take it to the next level. As crazy as that fight and that night was, it is amazing how Tyson has turned this around. He can laugh and joke about it now, in fact, Evander even came to one of his shows and heard him talk about it. Yes, I was there that night as well and remember when the Fight of the Century became the Bite of the Century. Just another chapter in Tyson’s recovery. In this case, Mike tries to play the victim, but for the most part, he takes blame for the bad things in his life.

“It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Tyson on his drug rehab.

Certainly, much of the Mike Tyson story has been written, discussed, covered and examined, but after watching him perform for an hour and a half, you get the impression that there is much more ahead. He talks about his children as a loving father and as somebody who is involved in their lives. I’m not sure if that’s true, but I hope it is, and I want to believe it is.

“I don’t deserve to be their father,” Tyson on his children.

Through it all, I was happy to see Tyson make this leap and succeed on stage without an opponent that he could clobber, or eat for lunch. For much of the show it’s him and the audience. Telling stories, sharing tales, and feeling the emotion that a life like this brings.

“The way you fight your fights is the way you live your life,” Cus to Tyson.

Perhaps it’s the fighter in all of us that wants to see him succeed.