Sports Radio Interviews

Mike Tyson Talks About His Documentary

One of my most crushing moments in sports in the past decade was seeing Mike Tyson get beat by Lennox Lewis. Not to take anything away from Lewis, but Tyson transcended boxing. He was the most entertaining athlete of the late 80’s and 1990’s. Whether it was his relationship with Robin Givens, his off the wall post-fight interviews, or his brutal knockouts, Tyson was it.

There have also been as many pitfalls throughout his career as successes. How someone can earn in excess of $300 million dollars and have to file for bankruptcy is beyond me. Lap dances and cocaine can be extremely expensive.

Regardless, Tyson’s life story is something that you wouldn’t be able to find in the fiction section at any local library. James Toback , movie director and longtime friend of Iron Mike, realized this and decided to put together a film spanning decades from Tyson’s childhood through present day. The film was in limited release on April 24th and is nationwide now and has drawn rave reviews.

Mike Tyson and “Tyson” Director James Toback joined Tirico and Van Pelt on ESPN Radio to discuss his movie, amongst other past transgressions and successes.

Mike Tyson on what he learned about himself from this movie:

“That’s an interesting question. I know I’m a guy that has to have restraints. It’s very difficult for me to actually be myself in society, to get any positive feedback and some kind of respect. I’m really high strung and I’m really extreme. Sometimes I think the way I come across is it appears to be confrontation but it truly isn’t.”

Director James Toback was asked what he learned about Mike Tyson during this process:

“I’ve been friendly with Mike for 24 years and we’ve done two movies before. I had a lot of expectations and we actually talked about this (the movie) for quite awhile. I expected something fascinating to come out, although not as fascinating as what emerged.”

Tyson was asked why he thinks his story is so compelling:

“ I don’t know. I really don’t know. I want to be able to tell you the answer. Sometimes its scary, gratifying, but I just wanted it to be right this time. I don’t want to be too extreme where I start believing that this is some extra-ordinary guy to do this and beat me to this extreme thinking, of living extremely, being involved in drugs and estranging my family from me again. I don’t think I can handle another run like that.”

Tyson was asked what parts of this experience did he feel good about reliving:

“It was just awesome being a young kid and living in New York. Being a New York City kid from Brooklyn and learning how to fight legitimately, learning the art of fighting and the discipline of fighting which I became so engulfed in I took it to an extreme level. That had a lot to do with me excelling at such a young age. I put my whole heart in it and said ‘this is what I’m going to do and I’m going to accomplish this and if I don’t accomplish this I’m going to die.’ It really got extreme. I wanted to be like Ali and Joe Lewis and Jack Dempsey. It went to such a megalomania extreme. I wanted to be these guys because it was put in my head that these were the guys to be, more important than being the President of the United States. You have to be heavyweight champ of the world, not only heavyweight champ but you have to be an exciting heavyweight champ where everywhere you go people call your name and want to touch you.”

Tyson was asked what its like to live life out of the spotlight now and if he misses it:

“Everyone has a small bit of ego and pride. You know what I miss more so than missing the money and the life? I miss showing people what I can do. Showing people that I’m the best that god ever created. I miss showing them that in my prime, there is no one that has ever lived that can beat me, and telling them that. That’s what I miss.”

Listen to Mike Tyson and “Tyson” Director James Toback on ESPN Radio with Tirico & Van Pelt (11:35 into podcast)

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