Undisputed truth mike tyson book review

Former Heavy Weight Champion Mike Tyson came to be thought of as an animal; a ruthless fighting machine. Yet his autobiography Undisputed Truth reveals that in fact Tyson is a thoughtful man. The villainous image that he cut in the media was a kind of character that he cultivated, rather than a reflection of his true self.

The Cus Relationship

The former heavyweight champion’s relationship with his mentor Cus D’Amato is both touching and endearing.  Perhaps it’s that they are different races, that this unlikely pair came together, which makes it all the more extraordinary. Tyson, who bowed to no one, was attached to Cus to such an extent that he felt rudderless once Cus passed.  

Cus himself was a strange man with strange passions. Yet Tyson continued to hear Cus’s voice in his head long after Cus passed, giving himself pep-talks–and self-criticisms in the voice of Cus: 

It wasn’t as though Cus wanted Tyson to be an angel. Rather, Cus and Tyson were of one mind on the bad-boy/ villain image which Tyson cultivated. Maybe Cus would not have approved of some of Tyson’s more notorious behavior. Nonetheless, Cus wanted Tyson to be ruthless, to be unapproachable and untouchable by his combatants.  Tyson’s mentor famously told Tyson to punch with “bad intentions.” (SEE ALSO: Undisputed Truth: Mike Tyson’s Break With Kevin Rooney)

When Tyson won the heavyweight championship belt at twenty years old, Cus was on his mind: 

Cus’s influence on Tyson ranged from the peek-a-boo fighting style to his mystic philosophy of living. By Tyson’s own admission, since winning the belt and with Cus’ memory growing more distant, Tyson became distracted by the fame and the spotlight. 

One does not get to be great in the sport of boxing without being a student of the sport, and Tyson was no doubt one of the most diligent students of the history of boxing; and specifically, Cus D’Amato’s school of boxing. In Undisupted Truth, Tyson recalls reading Cus’ books about the boxing greats of yesterday, such as Rocky Marciano.

Tyson’s Bad-Boy Image 

Tyson’s image was to some extent a role that Tyson and Cus had envisioned for him; which is to say, as a villain. Tyson refers to an “Iron Mike persona” which he cultivated, all the while still feeling like the bullied child that he used to be deep down inside.

One might have inferred that the “thug” and “animal” that Tyson presented was Tyson’s authentic self. To some extent it was. However, Tyson deliberately portrayed himself as such to intimidate opponents and create a kind of mythos of himself. If this were contrived, Tyson was successful in cementing this image of himself with the public. Tyson explains: 

Once Cus had passed, Tyson’s handlers, Clayton and Jacobs, wanted him to project a more clean cut image, going so far as to have him feature in an anti-drug PSA. Tyson himself is first to admit that as an intermittent drug-user, this was a little ironic. Furthermore, he did not feel on board with this media whitewashing of his image: 

By the way, this is the type of vernacular which gives Tyson’s autobiography authenticity and immediacy. 

As to Tyson’s over the top, lewd trash talk to his opponents, he testifies to feeling “embarrassed” to have talked to them like that. It shows some amount of self-reflection. Surely he still could have been the champ without telling his opponents, “suck my d*ck.” “I can’t believe what a disrespectful ignorant monster I was then,” (152) Tyson confesses. 

The fact is that Tyson is a fragile guy.  There is footage of a teenage Mike Tyson with his early trainer, Ted Atlas, preparing for an amateur bout. Tyson is audibly weeping, doubting himself, but then reassuring himself too:

The aggression and lashing out is one side of the coin, the vulnerability and insecurity is the other. 

Tyson would be the first to admit that his image of invulnerability and ferociousness was a front for a feeling of inadequacy which he harbored since his unstable childhood. As a man reflecting on his career, Tyson has been unnervingly introspective about the unsure man that lays beneath this tough exterior. Given his many weepy interviews, it seems he may even be going overboard with this vulnerability.  Keep a stiff upper lip, as the Brits say, Mike! 

Not a Machine, Yet a Powerhouse 

Though we might have thought of Tyson as a machine, a ferocious animal or something nonhuman, in Undisputed Truth Tyson provides all-to-human excuses for his boxing performance. He references his chronic bronchitis several times, a pinched nerve on his neck, a fight for which he didn’t train properly, and too much partying. In other words, when you might have assumed Tyson was in top form during those fights in the ‘80s, in Tyson’s mind at least, he often was not. 

For example, against James Tillis in 86, Tyson seemed a little gassed after failing to get an early knockout. Tyson frankly admits that this is due to his slacking in training. This laziness in Tyson’s training is not something most people attribute to him until perhaps the Buster Douglas debacle in 1990. But in some respects, the Douglas fight was not anomalous. Tyson just happened to face Douglas on one of Douglas’ very good nights in the ring.

Similar to the Douglas fight, against James Tillis, Tyson didn’t train hard and Tillis did. In this case, Tyson won the decision clearly; yet if Tillis had been more lethal, it could have been an equally bad night for Tyson as he experienced in that notorious fight against Buster Douglas, in which Tyson lost his title. Even if Tyson had a “bad night” against Tillis, he still looked pretty good, his movement was impressive, bobbing and weaving, dodging Tillis’ punches adroitly, and certainly landing some good shots. Simply, Tillis appeared to be in great shape and great stamina, and he proved to have quite a chin as well. 

In Undisputed Truth, Tyson admits to being sore as hell after the fight, hardly able to move from his hotel bed, despite saying that Tillis’ punches didn’t phase him too much in a post-fight interview. The mystique of the knockout artist might have been lifted by Tillis’ having gone the distance with Tyson, though Tyson’s manager Bill Cayton spun it for the media: Tyson had proved he could go ten rounds. At any rate, it was Tyson’s 20th win, the first not by knockout, and he was still a teenager. 

It wasn’t as though the Tillis fight heralded the end to Tyson’s knockout streak. In his subsequent fights, he had many first and second round knockouts, including a knockout 30 seconds into the first round against Marvis Frazier, son of the former champ. Some opponents just weren’t in the same league in terms of sheer strength and so inevitably hit the canvas quickly against young Tyson. Even former Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes could not fend Tyson off; Tyson cut through the bigger man like a knife through butter, winning by TKO.

The Non-Knockouts

There’s a certain phenotype that Tyson doesn’t do too well against: Big, jacked guys who can seemingly take any kind of punch on the chin. Early in his career, this took the form of Mitch Green and Jose Ribalta; Tyson beat Mitch Green by decision and Ribalta via TKO in the 10th–the ref stopped the fight. 

In the case of the Tyson-Ribalta fight in 1986, Tyson beat the stuffing out of him, knocking out his mouthguard in the 8th round before knocking him out with another combination. Yet the tough fighter kept getting up, apparently in possession of an iron chin. In both the Ribalta fight and the Mitch Green fight, the question was “How is this guy still standing?” The Ribalta fight was particularly brutal. It wasn’t just a question of how Ribalta avoided losing by knockout, but how he managed to still be alive. Insanely, Ribalta wanted to go on in the 10th round, perhaps for the bragging rights of going the distance against Tyson–but the ref thought better of it. 

Later in his career though, this type of fighter in the form of Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield gave Tyson a lot more trouble.  In these fights, there was no “one big punch” to suddenly end his opponent; rather, it was a brutal war of attrition, akin to chopping down an oak tree with many blows. And unfortunately for Tyson, these guys punched back. 

In general, though, during the late eighties Tyson’s opponents took on a hapless aire. They simply had no answer to his speed and power. Such was the case when Tyson fought James “Bonecrusher” Smith to unite the championship belts in early 1987. Though Tyson could not find an early round knockout against Bonecrusher, he was in complete control, despite slipping to the canvas during one barrage of his own punches. In response to Smiths’ frustrating performance in the ring, Tyson put it succinctly:

“He didn’t want to fight; he didn’t want to win.”

Mitch Green 

Those that were strong enough, such as Mitch Green, managed to stay on their feet most the fight, but were still outclassed in terms of boxing skill. Though Tyson did manage one knockout in the Mitch Green fight, it was more a matter of catching Green off balance. Tyson basically won every round against Green.   

Incidentally, Tyson had an opportunity to knock Green out in real life after the professional boxing match, under more sordid circumstances. Undisputed Truth gives the real story of this late-night brawl with the apparently drugged-up Green. Tyson was picking up some custom made clothes at 4 am in Harlem, himself drunk. This is where he encountered Green, who had been on something of a downward spiral since his loss to Tyson. 

Green, apparently on angel dust, provoked Tyson mightily, hurling invectives at him.  After trying to reason with Green, Tyson decided to fight back: 

Mitch Green emerges as a comic figure in Undisputed Truth, and Tyson displays his sense of humor in describing his ongoing and increasingly bizarre run-ins with Green. Tyson has a streetwise wit which makes him a compelling storyteller–even if he likely didn’t write the book with his own hand, it is at least in his own telling. 

But for the time, in 1986, there were really no problems in Tyson’s boxing career. Later in 1986 he would win the WBC belt from Trevor Berbick. It seems as though Berbick had no plan for this fight, no sticking and moving, no keeping his distance. He just stood there and tried to trade blows with Tyson, and was quickly dispatched. Tyson recalls: 

“I couldn’t believe he was standing right there in front of me…He had taken some really, really good shots.”

(122)

Thus Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history at 20 years old.

Mike Tyson a Joke?

In the early ‘90s talk-radio legend Rush Limbaugh had a bit with a Mike Tyson impersonator who would introduce Rush and mispronounce every word in that trademark high-pitched, lisped voice. Tyson was indeed a kind of punchline during his boxing reign (no pun intended). He was both fearsome and ridiculous. But Tyson is no dummy. 

Tyson was fodder for comedians and their impersonations: Keenan Wayans from In Living Color was known to do a Tyson impersonation. When Tyson ran into Wayans in the late ’80s, he asked the comedian:

Tyson reports that the jokes did indeed stop after that. The incident portrays Tyson as intimidating, but also it is humanizing insofar as we see that this ribbing was not appreciated by the sensitive boxer.

Despite Tyson’s umbrage, none of this satire of Tyson’s voice and mannerisms were done with any particular scorn. It just meant that he had arrived as a super-celebrity. Perhaps not until the rape allegation did he become notorious.

Tyson In Prison: Learning And Training

During his prison sentence for his rape conviction, Tyson spent time reading books:

When Tyson and his fellow inmates didn’t understand a word in their books, they would look it up in the dictionary, and then try to use it in their conversation in order to really learn the word. It was a rather touching attempt at self-improvement.

Tyson also had a running and weightlifting routine, running as much as ten miles a day. In describing a sordid scene in which Tyson lifted an obese woman to have sex with her (yes, in jail), he says, “Thank God I had been lifting weights.” Therefore, Tyson did indeed stay in shape in prison, though he wasn’t able to box or spar in prison (only shadowbox in his cell).

Even the prison administration, who were not necessarily friendly, seemed to have a stake in Tyson’s continued training. As Tyson writes in Undisputed Truth:

Just like after his loss to Buster Douglas, Tyson wanted a comeback in prison. He looked at the chaos in the heavyweight division with a melancholy eye towards making things right. Inmates and guards alike looked through the window of his cell to see the incarcerated champ run in place feverishly in his cell. Tyson was unintimidated, unbowed, unbroken, and hungry for revenge.

Works Cited 

Tyson, Mike. Undisputed Truth. NY: Penguin Group, 2013. 

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