Mike Tyson is Mike Tyson

You like him or you hate him, Mike Tyson is Mike Tyson. Millions people in the planet are still waiting for his bout no matter the the title about or the outcome. He was the phenomenon and still now.

I remember when I was a kid-to-teenager, watching Tyson fights with my family and neighbors gave much excitements for all of us. He fought all best boxers available. Tyson is definitely one of the all time heavy weight greats, no doubt about that, youngest heavy weight champion, beat all the champions and unified the belts in dominating fashion and ruled the division for several years until knocked out by James 'Buster' Douglas.

Douglas was no journeyman as many people think. I watched the fight. He dominated Tyson from early rounds. He was fast and strong. Despite of Tyson's condition that night, Douglas deserved the winning.

Though Tyson’s official record stands 50-5, his two victories over Orlin Norris and Andrew Golota should reflect 52-5. That leaves us with three options. One, ignore his 50 victories; two, focus only on his 5 losses; or three, look at all of the accomplishments, achievements and attainments in his career, and then objectively evaluate his record. Tyson of course reclaimed the WBC and WBA heavyweight titles by beating Frank Bruno and Bruce Seldon, but still gets no credit whatsoever for doing so. This is in spite of the fact that Bruno beat Oliver McCall who beat Lennox Lewis; and Seldon beat Tony Tucker who claimed George Foreman’s vacant crown for refusing to fight his mandatory challenger. Simply put, Tyson was not responsible for having not beaten Foreman who was the technical ‘lineal champion’. He simply beat who he faced for the titles he won.

For those who miss Mike Tyson, you can see him in action again. Well I lie, not really action inside ring but only an interview. Mike Tyson spoke his heart out on a documentary movie about him, 'Tyson' directed by James Toback. Tyson seems like an open book here, willing to explore every aspect of his life, his painful and embarrassing missteps along with his extraordinary triumphs. The extent of the man's thoughtfulness, self-awareness and hidden fears will surprise many, most of all non-fans who thought they had him pegged.

Interviewed from multiple angles and in different settings, Tyson early on reveals how, as a little kid on Brooklyn's meanest streets, he was robbed and humiliated by older boys. At the time, he was too scared to fight back, and admits, "I'm afraid of being that way again."

Not long after, however, he was so infuriated when a thug gratuitously killed one of his pet pigeons that Tyson went wild and beat the kid up. He was introduced to boxing at age 12 in juvee, Tyson had the great fortune to be taken care by legendary fight trainer Cus D'Amato, who became the father the boy never had.

D'Amato helped Tyson master the mental side of the game. Whatever private fears Tyson may have harbored, one notices in the fight footage that he always psychologically dominated his opponents from the moment he stepped into the ring. Even now, Tyson chokes up when speaking of what D'Amato meant to him, which is just one of several moving interludes the picture delivers.

D'Amato passed away in 1985, a year before Tyson demolished Trevor Berbick to become, at 20, the youngest man ever to win the heavyweight championship.

Tyson has lead a colorful life in and out of the ring. He ran into trouble when he was arrested for raping Miss Black America contestant Desiree Washington in her hotel room. He was convicted and served three years in prison for the crime. After he was released from prison in August of 1995, He defeated Peter McNeely in a fight lasting 89 seconds. Then on June 28, 1997, Tyson fought Evander Holyfield in a rematch, and after being 'head butted' by Holyfield, He bit off a chunk of the boxer's ear. This event basically ended Tyson's professional boxing career.

In the course of the film, Tyson moves from someone you might think you'd want to steer well clear of to a man you might actually want to meet and speak with.

However, the message from the movie, like other docu-biography movies; Mike Tyson is a human being with ups and downs in his life. He might have many enemies but who doesn't?

One thing I respect most from Tyson, and this never got proper publication from medias, he hugged every opponent he beat, in short time after referee made decision. He had sympathy in his heart, not vengeance nor arrogance. I rarely saw this thing on other great boxers.

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