Mike Tyson

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Tina Gianoulis

Born in Brooklyn and educated in the pugilistic arts on the New York streets, Mike Tyson went on to become history's youngest world boxing champion at age nineteen. From the start of his professional career in 1985, Tyson displayed contradictions of character that dogged him in controversy. An efficient powerhouse of a fighter, his inability to control his anger in his personal life sidelined his career more than once. When this anger finally caused him to lose control in the ring and bite an opponent's ear, many thought the incident signaled the end of his boxing career. However, Tyson proved himself as skilled at comebacks as at knockouts. By the end of the twentieth century, 15 years after his debut in the ring, it was evident that so long as promoters were able to make millions of dollars on every round he fought, "Iron Mike" Tyson would continue to be welcomed whenever he might choose to enter the ring.

Boxing has often been a controversial and paradoxical sport. Many see it as simple brutality, a gladiator-like contest where bloodthirsty audiences cheer as opponents batter each other senseless. Others claim boxing as one of the earliest refined athletic skills, a noble art requiring balletic precision, muscular power, and that indefinable yet essential quality--"heart." Perhaps it is because of that engaging quality of heart that boxing has given rise to so many heroes who have captured the public imagination. And yet, like boxing itself, boxing heroes are often contradictory figures with whom the public has a love-hate relationship. Boxing requires many of the same fighting skills that are necessary to the survival of young men growing up in poverty on urban streets. Thus many champs have come from underprivileged backgrounds, using their skills and toughness to pursue the wealth and fame that championship boxing promises those that succeed. The rise of the ghetto-bred fighter, particularly among African Americans and other minority groups, symbolizes the American dream of rising from poverty and obscurity to wealth and fame. From Jack Dempsey to Muhammad Ali, boxing champions have become national icons, glorifying the attributes of brashness, guts and furious strength.

Mike Tyson is a paradigm example of the phenomenon. Born into a poor African-American family and raised by a single mother on welfare, he has said of his own origins, "I was born in guck, mud. Humiliation." On his own from around age ten, Tyson was not tall, but he was powerfully built and filled with rage, and he learned early how to earn his way by mugging and purse-snatching. By the time he was 13, he had been arrested 38 eight times, finally ending up at the "bad cottage" at Tryon School for Boys in Catskill, New York. Tyson has described the reformatory with a poignant simplicity that a sociologist might envy: "Just a bunch of bad kids no one cared about in a square box." It was at Tryon School that ex-boxer Bobby Stewart recognized the tough youngster's fighting talent, and introduced him to Cus D'Amato, a visionary trainer who had been behind boxing champions Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres.

D'Amato recognized Tyson's potential and undertook his training. Tyson's amateur career was only mildly distinguished--he competed in trials for the 1984 Olympics, and earned a place on the team as an alternate--but in 1985 he entered the professional arena like a steamroller. From 1985 until 1990, he won every fight, most with knockouts and most in the first round. By 1986, he was world heavyweight champion. Then, in 1990, displaying the inconsistency fans would later come to expect, he suffered his first professional defeat at the hands of Buster Douglas, a virtual unknown with 50-1 odds against him. In 1988, at the height of his glory days, Tyson married actress Robin Givens. The petite Givens and her "gentle giant" husband were a pair made for the media, and they received an onslaught of attention from tabloids and television. The fairy tale union did not last however, and, though it was shocking, it surprised few when Givens confessed in a television interview with Barbara Walters that Tyson abused her and that life with him was "pure hell." The couple was divorced in 1989.

In 1992, the fighter made world headlines when he was convicted of rape and given a six-year prison sentence. Although persistently denying the charge, he served three years in a minimum-security prison where he converted to Islam, and came out declaring he was a changed man. He immediately resumed his boxing career, and by 1996 again held both the WBC and WBA heavyweight titles. Working with flamboyant boxing promoter Don King, Tyson negotiated one of the most lucrative boxing contracts in history, a $158 million deal with the Las Vegas MGM Grand Hotel and Showtime Entertainment Television for six fights or two and a half years, whichever came first.

Tyson's comeback success did not last. In 1997, in a rematch fight with Evander Holyfield, who had previously beaten him, "Iron Mike" lost control and bit pieces off both of Holyfield's ears. The boxing world, as well as the larger public, reeled in shock and disgust. Ear-biting jokes became a television staple, and Tyson's boxing license was suspended for life. However, after some 18 months of therapy and anger counseling, Tyson approached the boxing commissions in New Jersey and Nevada with assurances that he had once again mended his ways. Both commissions voted him mentally fit to box, and he made another comeback.