00:00:02
Punchers are not made. They are born. He was born a puncher. It's just my nature. You I mean
00:00:10
that I mean to reach for you and take your heart or your blood or your spleen or your liver.
00:00:17
The only place he's ever he ever used to find any peace in the world was in the ring. I want to have a perfect fight. I
00:00:23
want to be the best fighter. I felt like Mike was kidnapped into the Don King cult and brainwashed. Don is a master of
00:00:31
finding a person's weakness. The fight is on. Keen use Tyson's sex life and the women around him to control him.
00:00:40
By nature, I'm wild regardless. It's my mentality. That's the way I am. You know, even though I'm subdued, it's
00:00:46
just, you know, has a lot of energy. [Music] Mike Tyson is more than wild. Mike Tyson
00:01:00
is the most brutal man to ever step into a professional boxing ring. He's the only man to ever be disqualified in a
00:01:07
championship bout for biting his opponent. Not once, but twice. His action sent thousands of fans racing out
00:01:16
of the arena in fear. I was inside the casino and freaking people just started. There was shots fired. People just
00:01:21
started running out. The Nevada State Athletic Commission revoked Tyson's license for a period of
00:01:33
one year. Time to reconsider whether or not he was emotionally fit to fight again. Larry Merchant covered Tyson
00:01:42
almost from his beginnings. All fighters previously of his type in the heavyweight division, meaning Dempsey,
00:01:51
Marciano, and Fraser, had short blazing careers. That kind of style does not allow a fighter to have a
00:02:01
very long career as Joe Lewis did, as Muhammad Ali did, as Larry Holmes did. So even giving him the best of
00:02:09
intentions, the greatest of will to change over There's a serious question of whether it
00:02:15
can be done. [Music] Tyson grew up in Brooklyn. His father abandoned him. His mother couldn't
00:02:28
control him. Everything was so hostile. It was It was never a a subtle moment there. It was always hostile. Cops
00:02:36
always stopping. You know what I mean? Amand's always coming to pick up somebody. Guns always going off. People
00:02:42
are getting stabbed, windows are being broken, very very hostile. We were excited. We thought it was something,
00:02:48
you know, I mean, used to watch these guys shooting out one another. It was somewhat um watching John Wayne shoot it
00:02:53
out of watch um some old Humphrey Bogart Edward G. Robertson movies and you're watching these guys shoot out and you're
00:03:01
looking, you said, "Wow." And this is happening in real life. By the time he was eight, he was a street punk trying
00:03:06
to survive. It was so exciting. Me and your world are so vastly different. You could never understand the action and
00:03:14
the excitement of it all. I mean, the cunningness, the, you know, I mean, to be able to outsmart somebody, it was a
00:03:20
big thrill to be not just to go out there and beat a guy up and slam on the ground and take his wallet to outsmart
00:03:26
them, to out time them, to outthank them, even though they know that you're a crook. When you're on the bus or when
00:03:30
you're walking in the check cashing place or the grocery store, they know to watch you
00:03:35
and you still outsmart them. Like most people would think um well she knows me she's she's on to
00:03:41
me I'm gonna walk away but just to still watch them watch them and they think they know and then they make one mistake
00:03:47
and you outsmart them and they have their wallet. Now, I'm not a professional cook, but when I was young,
00:03:50
I just wanted to out think an idea that you go back to your friend and said, "You had to see the way I did to see
00:03:55
your friend." You say, "You had to see this." You know, you had to see I should get Academy Awards for this, you say?
00:04:00
And it was just I don't care. I just I had a great time. And I mean, it was a great learning experience in life. He
00:04:07
was a teenage mugger and predator. He had 38 arrests as a juvenile. By the time he was 13, Tyson was sentenced to a
00:04:15
juvenile center in upstate New York where his luck changed when he was brought to the attention of a boxing man
00:04:20
by the name of Customado. Customado was a legendary boxing figure who had led champions like
00:04:27
Jose Torres and Floyd Patterson to world titles. Customado rescued him from a life of
00:04:35
crime in prison, gave him an opportunity, developed his boxing skills. Tyson was 12. He was very shy.
00:04:42
He looks very strong. He looked too small and a little bit too fat to make any projection about him.
00:04:51
Customado brought two trainers into Tyson's life. Teddy Atlas and Kevin Rooney. I met Tyson in Katskco, New York
00:04:59
with Custom Model. I was up there training fighters. I was training all the fighters for Custom Model. I was
00:05:04
training at the time when Bobby Stewart, who was a correction officer in uh a youth prison near Albany, called up C
00:05:13
and asked him if I would take a look at this young kid named Mike Tyson. It was a gentleman named Bobby Stewart who was
00:05:19
an ex fighter in New Cus and Cuss helped him a great deal and I wanted to be a boxer. I wanted to box with the kids.
00:05:26
when he found out that Stewart was a former fighter, which he was pro and amateur,
00:05:32
uh, Stewart showed him a couple things and Tyson became very energized and very excited about the prospect of maybe
00:05:39
learning how to box. And when he found out he was friendly with Cus, Tyson was excited that he might have an
00:05:44
opportunity to come and and meet Cus. In his 70s, when he met Tyson, Damato believed he'd found the kid who once
00:05:52
again could put Cus on a championship track. We trained him, myself and and Teddy at the beginning. We trained him
00:06:00
steadily until finally started get boxing and then he developed the the ability to slip punches and so forth.
00:06:07
When he got to the point with slipping punches, we had a difficult time getting people to box with him because he proved
00:06:13
to be a very hard punch with both hands. Tyson was he was like a sponge and he just absorbed everything that Cuss had
00:06:19
to teach him. you know, the head movement, throwing the punches with with bad intentions and the right the proper
00:06:26
snap. And I I recall Mike, you know, you know, practicing for for long sustained periods of time, 10,
00:06:33
15 minutes in the mirror, just throwing like one the right uppercut or left hook
00:06:38
just over and over and over. Cuss had an extensive uh films at the house of the old fighters Dempsey,
00:06:52
Armstrong, Robinson, and uh C used to watch them all the time. Henry Armstrong style here is typical of him. Head down
00:07:01
on the chest of his opponent. That's it. There you go. Now you got again. Again, who's the last guy to
00:07:10
stop? Time. Very good. That's what I mean. I want to do something that no fighter ever done violently in the ring.
00:07:16
I want to do something. I don't want to actually kill somebody. You I mean for things like Jack Dempsey broke people
00:07:20
eye sockets. You That's to me that's that's a high you to see that guy did this.
00:07:29
The trainers worked on Tyson's boxing skills. Cus used Joseé Torres as a role model. Costaro said, "This kid may
00:07:39
become the youngest heavyweight champion of the world." He wanted to impress us.
00:07:44
He knew exactly why he was there. He was there to audition to be able to change his life, maybe to move somewhere else
00:07:50
after he got out of prison. Cuts watch, man. Cut was pleased, I guess. And he said, "You have too much talent." You
00:07:56
know what I mean? He said, "You're a good kid, but if you go back to Brooklyn, you're only going to get
00:07:59
yourself in trouble." And from that point on, he adopted me. Boys, Frank got here, Frank.
00:08:16
Come on, man. Come on, man. Dude, look at that bird right there. See him? Oh, look. Great. Oh, great. Look at the
00:08:21
other one coming right with him. Oh, great. Look at this bird, man. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. That's the
00:08:28
Western Eagle. Look at them. Unbelievable. Tyson raised pigeons at Cuss's house. A pursuit he discovered as
00:08:35
a child growing up in Brooklyn. But Tyson was not content to only play with his pigeons. Tyson was wild. He used to
00:08:44
disappear. C threw Tyson out of the house in front of me. Get out of here. That was in one point. And another point
00:08:52
he asked Tyson out to fight with him. There was a time I remember one time when there was an argument between Tyson
00:08:59
and C. And Tyson C went outside. come here. You know, you you you want to be you want to be a tough guy, come here.
00:09:07
And and I and I we're going to fight. And Cos was very serious. And Tyson, of course, he laughed and worked away. He
00:09:14
had problems. He got thrown out of the school. A lot of the stuff quite honestly was kept quiet. Uh because the
00:09:21
image was important, you know, the kid and the old man. That was a great image, you know, that could really sell. The
00:09:27
kid and the old man. Well, not exactly. At least when the kid wanted to play, he
00:09:34
used to uh leave for the weekends to see his mother in Brooklyn. uh he was supposed to leave on Saturday and come
00:09:42
back on Sunday and sometimes he stay lost for three or four or five days and C used to come to the city and he used
00:09:51
to call me other times and I used to go over bed sty looking for Bronzeville looking for Tyson all over the place and
00:10:00
sometimes we found him most time we did not and I was wild I never had the opportunity because I focused most of my
00:10:06
life I'm sure most of the stories you hear are not not as accurate, but you know I mean of course I mean I was
00:10:11
interested in women. Whatever troubles Tyson was encountering outside the ring, it was not affecting the natural killer
00:10:18
instinct inside. With Cus and Teddy Atlas's guidance, Tyson had beaten every amateur opponent. And in 1982, he
00:10:28
defended his Junior Olympics title. His reputation had preceded him. The year before, some of the less developed
00:10:35
fighters intentionally lost their matches. terrified of facing Tyson and risking serious physical
00:10:42
[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] injury. Calm down. While other fighters may have seen him as a vicious animal to
00:11:04
be feared and avoided, Tyson showed another side of himself before stepping into the ring for the championship
00:11:10
match. He broke down before the bout, giving voice to a familiar lament. His fear that if he lost, no one would love
00:11:20
him. Better fighters than we ever going to fight here. I mean, it's always hard,
00:11:25
but I mean, I came wrong, remember? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Mike Tyson, anybody likes me?
00:11:33
Yeah, everyone likes you, man. That's fine. You have a reason to be proud. Ladies and gentlemen,
00:11:44
how many seconds you want? You're the champ. Fight smart and like a tiger and calm.
00:11:56
out. Tyson has a great overhand right. Brown carries his left hand low. We'll see whether the two match up. There's a
00:12:03
right hand. There's a left. A right hand. He's got him in the corner. He's working
00:12:09
on him. Right head goes up. He's going down. [Music] Another right body by Tyson. Very, very
00:12:21
strong boxer Tyson. tell you very very strong. Brown has taken some vicious punishment and held on. He's still in
00:12:27
there. I don't think there's another right by Tyson. He's just left right. He's given up to coming in. Look at old
00:12:35
Tyson jump on the ropes. Having disposed of the amateurs, Tyson turned professional. The beginning of Mike
00:12:42
Tyson's career was guided perfectly from the trainers, the training, the promoting, the fights acquired for Mike
00:12:52
Tyson. Here was a man that sometimes fought twice a month. Unbelievable. It's so hard for a manager to get two fights
00:13:02
a month for a fighter. Never mind the amount of fights that they got for Team Tyson. Team Tyson was the perfect team
00:13:10
for boxing. And the next thing you know, Mike Tyson was like the hottest upand cominging fighter that we had seen since
00:13:17
the young Cashes Clay, Rocky Mariano. I mean, they were putting him in Joe Lewis. They were
00:13:23
putting him in that in that category because because why? Because he was knocking guys out. He was knocking guys.
00:13:27
Every time he threw the punch, he threw with bad intentions and he wasn't getting hit.
00:13:33
[Applause] [Music] Several months after turning pro, Tyson was hit with the hardest blow of his
00:13:47
career when his adoptive father and mentor Customado died of pneumonia. No one was certain Tyson
00:13:54
could continue. Jim Jacobs assumed the place in Tyson's heart that had been held by Customado.
00:14:01
the friend, the mentor, the replacement for the father that he never knew. Jacobs told Mike, "Win the title for
00:14:09
Cus." Cus died one year before Tyson became a champion. And Cus was saying publicly that he was still alive
00:14:20
probably because of Tyson. Jim Jacobs who was working with Tyson and Bill Kaitton. They had a they had an
00:14:29
association. they uh they took over. He suffered in silence that you know I think that Tyson turned the the
00:14:42
hurtfulness and the sorrow into some vicious anger and he and he cuz he started knocking guys. He was knocking
00:14:48
guys out in the gym and I think that he actually turned inward and and had it work for him. That's what I believe
00:14:54
happened. In uh 1984, 85,86 and most of ' 87, uh Mike lived in my apartment here in
00:15:07
Manhattan and he would sleep on the couch and then he'd become a top 10 fighter. Then he became the number one
00:15:14
contender and then he became heavyweight champion of the world. So to come out of
00:15:18
my bedroom in the morning and they're on the couch is the heavyweight champion of
00:15:22
the world and my my friend is it's like having Willie Mays or Mickey Manel sleeping on your couch. It's the most
00:15:30
incredible feeling in the world. But all during that time period he was a terrific kid. That was a right to the
00:15:36
body and an uppercut to the head. And Berick is Tyson at the age of 20 became Cuss's dream. the youngest heavyweight
00:15:44
champion of the world. Having conquered the division, Tyson turned his attentions to a beautiful young actress,
00:15:51
the star of a popular television sitcom, Robin Given. At the beginning, I was for
00:15:57
the idea of Tyson marrying Robin Given because Tyson was getting too wild. He began to get attention from women in in
00:16:07
the street and he was going crazy with women. And I felt that if he married one woman, he would stick but on the control
00:16:15
of one woman and that would have been much better for him. I didn't care about the woman. But in this case, I thought
00:16:21
that Robin G wasn't good women. Before I get married, you mean like I say I was a
00:16:26
young kid 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, you know, making great deals of money, very famous. More than making money, I was
00:16:33
very famous. I mean, and I was wild. I never had the opportunity because I focused most of my life. I'm sure most
00:16:39
of the stories you hear are not not as accurate perhaps. I don't know what they all are but you know I mean of course I
00:16:45
mean I was interested in women. Robin was a very you know seemed to be a very sweet girl and I was delighted with the
00:16:51
fact that he was getting married. I thought it'd be good for Mike and uh but as soon as she got married she called up
00:16:58
and said she's Mrs. Mike Tyson. I'm taking over. I want to see all the books and all the records. In 1988, once Mike
00:17:04
got married, uh, Robin Given and Ruth, of course, were very interested in taking over Mike's career. It became
00:17:12
very obvious when we were in Tokyo for the Tubs fight. We're flying home from Japan. I think it was a 13-hour flight,
00:17:19
and Robin Given gets up and announces to Bill Kaitton, I'm the I'm Mrs. Tyson's now, and everything's got to go through
00:17:26
me. So, right then, that was the first sign that they were looking to take Tyson over. It was reported to us here
00:17:32
in New York that Robin and Ruth were at the bank already claiming Mike's accounts and telling Jim Jacobs and Bill
00:17:38
Kaden that they're they're taking over and Robin went on record to Bill and Jim saying she's Mrs. Mike Tyson, she's
00:17:45
taking over. And it turned out to be a mistake. You know, it turned out to be a mistake because it was like a game, the
00:17:53
marriage and then the relationship with Tyson and the mother. Tyson barely had time for a honeymoon before tragedy
00:18:01
struck his life once again. Tyson's mentor and co-manager, Jim Jacobs, who'd been fighting leukemia for 8 years, died
00:18:09
on March 23rd, 1988. To the young champion, it was a shocking and unexpected event. Jacobs
00:18:17
had been the replacement for Customado and Tyson's emotional universe, and he'd been kept in the dark about his
00:18:24
surrogate father's illness. Then Jim Jacobs died when Mike was 21. Uh, and that created the opening, the
00:18:33
opportunity for uh, Don King to move in on a very confused 21-year-old kid and manipulate him into becoming part of Don
00:18:43
King's empire. With his new marriage and the pressure of fame and fortune pressing
00:18:49
relentlessly on him, Tyson needed a father figure now. Now more than [Music] ever, by the time June 1988 rolled
00:19:06
around, Tyson's personal and professional lives were in disarray. His manager and mentor, Jim Jacobs, was
00:19:13
gone, and the recently wetted champ was being pulled and manipulated by several opposing forces. In one corner, there
00:19:22
was Robin Given and her mother, Ruth Roer, who were fighting for control of the champ's fortune. On the opposing
00:19:29
side, Bill Kaitton, the manager who had helped make Tyson a multi-millionaire and international
00:19:36
celebrity. And then there was Don King, the flamboyant, spike-haired promoter, the new force in Tyson's life. This is
00:19:46
the high road. I'm not mad at anybody. I have no axe to grind with anyone. All I
00:19:52
want to do is to present to America and the world the best in boxing in a camaraderie conviviiality type of
00:20:01
setting. I'm a dreamer and I'm a big dreamer. And when I start dreaming, I get in a lot of trouble.
00:20:09
[Music] I just want to announce that we've just heard that this is the greatest live
00:20:20
gate in the history of professional sports. 12.3 million. By the time Tyson stepped back into the
00:20:28
ring to defend his title against Michael Spinx, his life outside the ring was on
00:20:32
the ropes. Just 10 days before the bout in Atlantic City, Robin Given and her mother, Ruth Roer, went public with
00:20:39
tales of beatings by Tyson. And on the day of the fight, Tyson sued his manager, Bill Kaitton, claiming Kaitton
00:20:47
had been dishonest in his handlings of the champ's finances. It's no pity catch. This things that
00:20:54
involve millions and millions and millions and not just tens and 20s, you know what I mean? Hundreds of millions
00:21:00
of dollars. You know what I mean? And what I did was when they asked to have all the records, I had a complete
00:21:06
readout made of every dollar in, every dollar out from the day we took over, when Mike turned pro. And I sent that to
00:21:16
the lawyer and that was the end of it. Lawyer, he was more than satisfied. We never heard another word from that
00:21:21
lawyer. Even though King kept saying that that we stole money, the fact is that we paid Mike everything, overpaid
00:21:28
Mike from the very and never recouped money that we paid during his uh amateur career. This is this is serious. You
00:21:36
know, I mean, people don't understand. They don't understand the contracts and what we had for the future. People, you
00:21:41
know, this is worth a great deal of money. Robin and Ruth decided that while the Spinx fight was going to be taking
00:21:49
place, they wanted to make sure that the moment the Spinx fight was over and Mike
00:21:54
had had his payday of $23 million, they wanted to make sure that they were in charge. And they did a very good job of
00:22:04
convincing Mike that everything that had been done for him up until that point was not in his best interest. that the
00:22:10
monies that were generated by Mike, he was getting cheated out of and all of the things that they told him, given
00:22:20
information to them by Don King, worked. And Mike genuinely believed that everything that had been done for him
00:22:29
was not in his best interest. [Music] How you doing? Who you think is going to win? Mike.
00:22:51
Build as Tyson Spinx once and for all and seen by oddsmakers as Tyson's biggest challenge yet. This bout had far
00:22:58
more drama going on outside the ring than it did inside. Big moment for me, big moment for boxing. Biggest fight in
00:23:05
boxing history by far. Spinx has ever been down in a professional fight. Tyson disposed of Spinx in 91 seconds. Tyson
00:23:15
may have left Atlantic City with his title intact, but the drama surrounding the fight would continue. Don was able
00:23:20
to grab Mike, bring him out to Cleveland, keep him in Cleveland until he was able to convince Mike that he was
00:23:28
in his best interest. Whatever the story was, whatever I'm sure Mike needed at that time, whether it was wine, women,
00:23:35
or song, Don got him to be able to keep him in Cleveland to give Don the time it
00:23:40
took for Don to start pitching the stories. And Don is the greatest pitcher of all time. He did made some moves
00:23:47
about closing off bank accounts so that the women could not put checks against him, which were in Mike's interest, but
00:23:54
they weren't being done for Mike. they were being done for Don King to cement his association with him. This lawsuit
00:24:00
is brought by Mike Tyson. There were charges and countercharges. Eventually, Donald Trump
00:24:06
announced the deal that left Kaitton as manager, King as promoter. Mike asked me
00:24:12
and his family asked me whether or not I'd help them in terms of representation, in terms of helping him
00:24:17
to solve some of the problems that you're going to have as a 21-year-old fighter. And I said I would do that. And
00:24:25
uh I I'd like to see him be successful so that at the age of 30 or 35 when he's ready to stop, he doesn't have to worry
00:24:31
about anything. History has said that often times people or boxers or fighters or just athletes who have made
00:24:38
millions turn around years later and wonder where it went. Uh Joe Lewis had to fight an extra fight for financial
00:24:45
reasons. Kareem Abdul Jabbar has to go an extra season for financial reasons. I never want my husband to be in a
00:24:51
position to have to fight another fight. I want him to step into the ring as often as he wants because he wants to,
00:24:57
because he enjoys it. Never for financial reasons. And as much money as Michael makes, he should never have to
00:25:02
do it for financial reasons. I'm running my show. I don't have to fight for anybody. He's employed by me. And it
00:25:07
seems like it was the other way around when I was employed by him. And the contract that we had and agreed, which I
00:25:13
trusted them, and I had write a it was basically like a a serving contract. I fight when and where and whoever they
00:25:21
said or whatever. and that I feel wasn't justified rightly. And I'm very pleased
00:25:26
the matter was resolved. I'm happy to be working with Mike Tyson, who I am absolutely confident. History will
00:25:33
decide was the greatest heavyweight of all time. He's got strong power over his own destiny. He's got strong control
00:25:39
over his own destiny. And I think that Mike and Bill working together are going to be really something over the next few
00:25:45
years. I'm going to take a couple six, eight weeks off and relax. I'm making the decisions like I said now. And it's
00:25:51
good the first time making my own decision. and I decided I'm not going to fight. If I would have never been
00:25:54
involved with then my girlfriend, then my wife Robin Given, I would have never been aware and my eyes would have never
00:26:00
been open to what was happening. And I'd like to commend my wife who I love so much and thank you.
00:26:06
Despite the public announcements, the struggle for control of Tyson's career would continue to unfold in the coming
00:26:12
years, as with the turmoil in his personal life. During the summer of 88, uh, after the contract between Bill
00:26:20
Kaitton and Mike Tyson was renegotiated with Robin and Ruth, everything was pretty calm for about, uh, 68 6 to 8
00:26:27
weeks and then there was the blow up between Mike Tyson and Robin Given at the mansion in Bernard'sville. In a
00:26:36
nationally televised interview, Robin Given told Barbara Walters that Tyson was a manic depressive, a charge that
00:26:43
would later prove groundless. She also renewed her claim that Tyson beat her. Several days later, people were summoned
00:26:51
to Tyson's mansion in New Jersey on a domestic disturbance call. And shortly after that, Robin Given filed for
00:26:58
divorce. With Robin gone, Tyson turned to his promoter, Don King. I knew Mike Tyson from 1980 to 1988. Once he was
00:27:09
kidnapped into this Don King cult, he never returned one of my phone calls. I don't know if my messages were ever
00:27:15
given to him. It was as if Mike Tyson went into a cult and the cult leaders made him break off ties to all of his
00:27:24
old friends. Don King ingratiates himself with fighters by appealing to their worst angels instead of their
00:27:31
better angels and allowing them to do what they please uh and in that way to to gain their
00:27:42
loyalty. Kevin Rooney was a wonderful trainer for him. Kevin Rooney loved him. Uh, but Don King made him fire Kevin
00:27:50
Rooney. And I think the day Tyson fired Kevin Rooney, there was a cap put on Mike Tyson's development as a fighter.
00:27:58
He did not develop any more beyond that date. He was never in tip-top shape for any fight. After he fired Rooney, he
00:28:07
stopped moving his head. He began to accept clinches. He started to jab less. You could see that that under Don King,
00:28:15
not only did his character and morals decline in a road, his boxing technique began to decline in a road because he no
00:28:24
longer had Kevin Rooney or Teddy Atlas. He didn't want to submit himself as an athlete to anyone who could have any
00:28:31
authority, to anyone who could say no. and he surrounded himself uh bought bought friends with the money
00:28:39
he made and surrounded himself with with semi-professionals uh and allowed all of this the
00:28:47
distractions that come with with fame and fortune to impose themselves on him. If the oddsmakers were aware of Tyson's
00:28:56
flagging commitment to his boxing, it was not reflected in their handicapping of Tyson's bout in Tokyo against James
00:29:03
Buster Douglas in February of 1990. Tyson goes over. So about 2 weeks before the fight, he realizes that, you know,
00:29:10
he's like 20 lbs overweight. He goes on a crash diet. He got down to I think it was like 225. Right there. Stay in
00:29:16
there. Tyson was a 42 to1 favorite. Before the fight, rumors had swirled about Tyson's
00:29:27
mental and physical state. He'd been knocked down in sparring and didn't seem focused during training. He'd faced
00:29:34
adversity in his personal life from day one, but never had his demons affected him in the ring. For the first time, the
00:29:41
greatest champion of his generation had lost control in the one place. He had always seemed to be able to maintain it.
00:29:49
The bell rang and I could see Tyson wasn't himself. He wasn't he wasn't in shape. So I guess he figured that well
00:29:55
maybe this guy's going to fall down if I look mean at him. So Tyson looked mean at him. Douglas said okay. And he
00:30:01
started throwing a couple of jabs. He started landing first round, second round, third round. Now all of a sudden
00:30:07
Buster Douglas went from being what we call a scared fighter to a brave fighter. And once that happens that once
00:30:15
you go from being nervous to being real brave, you don't go back to being nervous. you stay real brave and he just
00:30:23
he just pacing Mike. I mean just he gave him a beat. We'll finish things and hold
00:30:28
the uppercut. What an uppercut by. We acknowledged the fact that Buster Douglas put on a brilliant performance.
00:30:36
The man was uh magnificent and it indicated as I've told you many times before in many of
00:30:45
the press conferences that we have had that the greatness of boxing is the unpredictability of it. Fighters lose.
00:30:53
Most your writers, the mature writers here, they're a lot older. They've been around a lot longer than I have in the
00:30:58
fight business. They seen fighters better than I lose. These things happen. Only thing I'm asking for from the
00:31:03
champion now is just the rematch. I'll be okay. Tyson was humiliated. He had never taken such a public beating. Now
00:31:10
more than ever, he needed approval. And more than ever, he turned to sex. Rudy Gonzalez was Mike Tyson's
00:31:18
chauffeur and later a bodyguard and personal aid. Rudy Gonzalez was at Tyson's side constantly. He was a
00:31:25
firstirhand observer of Tyson's sex life. Our life with with Tyson with women was simple. They were always
00:31:31
around. They were always trying to claw themselves into the car and trying to get with him and and it becomes
00:31:38
confusing. King knew this. King used Tyson's sex life and the women around him to control him. Tyson didn't run
00:31:47
down the the the streets running around trying to grab people. Basically, women would put themselves in his arms and and
00:31:54
and and actually melt and fold and twist in certain ways that he would react to like any man would.
00:32:02
[Music] July 18th, 1991, Tyson met Desiree Washington, a Miss Black America contestant at a pageant rehearsal in
00:32:11
Indianapolis. She accompanied him back to his hotel room in the early morning hours. 3 days later, Washington filed a
00:32:19
complaint with police alleging that Tyson raped her. Back up. Come on. Back up. Out of the
00:32:30
way. Thank you. Out of the way. Excuse me, please. These charges are in connection with the
00:32:44
sexual assault. This was the greatest crisis of his young life. His freedom and reputation were at stake. The
00:32:50
situation that occurred was it's totally ridiculous. And I didn't hurt anyone or
00:32:54
do anything, but you I love women, you know. I mean, my mother's a woman. I respect them as well. And the course,
00:33:00
you know what I mean? Every time I trust one and get involved with one a certain
00:33:04
way like this, something happened. So I'm confused. I'm just I'm just lost from the whole issue that happened
00:33:09
today. Surprisingly, none of the team Tyson men who had stood with him at Customados early in his career were
00:33:17
there. Now only one man stood at Tyson's side. Don King usal affect Mr. tight in the future.
00:33:30
Due process is really all we are looking for. And if due process is is exhibited
00:33:36
here, the justice will prevail. Still hoping to fight Holfield right now. I would say due process,
00:33:44
given his constitutional rights, Mike Tyson is now synonymous to due process, the Constitution of this great United
00:33:55
States. We're not arguing whether he's guilty or innocent. We are saying let due process take its course. I wasn't in
00:34:02
a hotel room. Uh you never know what actually happened. Tyson felt a kind of in entitlement with the world that
00:34:12
whatever he wanted he could get. and uh he was sort of out of control and and like a lot of star athletes and
00:34:25
entertainers didn't feel that uh the rules apply to him and found out that they did. Uh the president's been a
00:34:34
little overzealous in giving the man a scathing indictment by innuendo, insinuation, accusation, you know what I
00:34:42
mean? And so he's been castigated. Were you surprised by anything you heard from the defense in their filing? No.
00:34:50
There aren't many, you know, when you discover like we discovered in this case, you're not going to have very many
00:34:54
surprises. What time did they actually start deliberating? 1:00 about 5 minutes ago, received word from the jury that we
00:35:03
they have reached a verdict. After nine hours of deliberations, the Indianapolis jury found Tyson guilty. We
00:35:12
did not come to a conclusion until the conclusion of our deliberation. All we wanted to do and I think we did a very
00:35:17
good job with that. We wanted to be sure of what we did and we wanted to be fair.
00:35:22
We knew that it was going to be like this because it's Indiana. Well, I think it was probably a very fair verdict. And
00:35:29
what I want to say is while we're confident of the verdict and while we are u we remain steadfast in our uh
00:35:38
posture versus the crime that was committed, we do have a sense of compassion for any defendant who's
00:35:43
convicted of a crime and faces the uncertain future that this young man does. [Music]
00:35:58
[Music] We know you didn't do it. [Music] [Applause] Serving a six-year term at the Indiana
00:36:13
Youth Center, Tyson was back in the setting he knew all too well from his days as a street punk. But once again,
00:36:20
he fought back. He became a Muslim, had his sentence cut in half for good behavior, and on March 25th,
00:36:29
1995, he was a free man. Tyson the Muslim was expected to fire Don King, but he did not. To the surprise of
00:36:40
boxing fans, Tyson signed a new contract with Don King worth tens of millions of
00:36:47
dollars. The fight is on. The reason he went with King when he got out of jail was very simple. King was
00:36:56
the only man on this planet who could take a man out of jail, a convicted rapist, and do a deal with one of the
00:37:04
biggest companies in this country, MGM, a six or eight fight deal, I can't remember exactly which, for $30 million
00:37:11
a fight. And the first fight he had was against Pete McNeely of all time. Why don't King manage me? Because King was
00:37:19
clever enough to put together the best financial package and make the best guarantee to him. All the other guys
00:37:25
were saying, I'll do great things for you. King was able to lay a deal out on the table that said, "You're going to
00:37:31
make a hundred or $150 million if you if you go with me." It was a business decision. It soon became clear that Don
00:37:41
King had once again cast a spell on Tyson. The spike-haired promoter was in charge
00:37:50
of the excon exch from Amboy Street in Brooklyn and a part of the community. The former world
00:38:00
champion of the world, Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson. I think that Duncan has Tyson's number, you know,
00:38:09
intellectually the same way uh Holyfield has Tyson number pugilistically. Tyson might have as much on King as King had
00:38:19
on Tyson. So there was a kind of mutually assured destruction potential between them. Uh I
00:38:27
think it was the money and the emotion. He felt safer with King. King had power in the boxing world. Uh, these other
00:38:35
guys would just talk. Duncan knows Tyson. He knows how to to persuade Tyson. He knows how to
00:38:45
dissuade Tyson. He he manipulate Tyson outside of him like a little boy. Tyson's comeback was plagued by
00:38:53
controversy from the start. And while a fight set up by Don King might not have been what most boxing observers would
00:38:59
call competitive, they were immensely profitable. Tyson's status as the biggest draw in boxing was once again
00:39:06
secure. He's selling tickets now the way he always did, but I think it's for a different reason where once it was to
00:39:12
watch this tremendous boxer. Now I think there's an odd sort of circus around him
00:39:17
and people want what's going to happen this time and and that sells that sells in America. While Tyson wasn't the
00:39:24
dominant pugilist he'd been in his prime, he was still a dangerous fighter with too much speed and punching power
00:39:29
for almost every other ranked heavyweight. Tyson quickly retained the WBC and WBA titles with victories over
00:39:37
Frank Bruno and Bruce Seldon. Finally, Tyson was going to get his long sought-after bout against
00:39:44
Evander Holyfield. And because they thought Holyfield was completely washed up as a fighter and
00:39:52
they thought that his name would attract a big audience and restore Tyson's own name. Otherwise, they never would have
00:40:01
taken that fight. If they thought that Holyfield could still fight, they would not have taken the fight. Tyson
00:40:07
Holyfield, years in the making. I've been looking forward to winning. My main objective is just to win. I truly
00:40:13
believe that the fight will be tough until uh I convince him that you know I am the man. Turned out to be a giant
00:40:25
letdown. Tyson was dominated by Holyfield and the fight had to be stopped in the 11th round. For only the
00:40:31
second time in his professional career, the fighter once thought unbeatable had suffered defeat. Tyson wasn't in good
00:40:39
shape and he was believing his press clippings, I guess. And uh Holyfield proceeded to give him another beating.
00:40:46
As it turned out, Holyfield exposed Tyson, exposed the fact that he had gone way back as a fighter and exposed the
00:40:55
fact that he was basically a bully in the ring and that if you stood up to him that he would come apart. On June 28th,
00:41:06
1997, Tyson stepped into the ring with Evander Holyfield once again. It would be a day of infamy for boxing and for
00:41:14
Tyson as well. The uncontrolled demons which had followed him through most of his life
00:41:21
would on this day slip between the ropes, creating one of the ugliest moments in boxing history.
00:41:29
Well, I didn't know what I was seeing at first. Uh then when I realized he bit his ears, it occurred to me that this
00:41:33
was a guy who quit, who was looking to get out of a fight. And then I I don't really think that was the case. I think
00:41:38
he was frustrated. He realized he found someone he couldn't intimidate, he couldn't bully, he couldn't beat, and he
00:41:44
just reacted in frustration and uh bailed out. Referee Mills Lane warned Tyson, but seconds later, Tyson did the
00:41:52
unthinkable again. This time, Lane disqualified him. I think he understood he was losing the fight and was going to
00:41:59
lose the fight because everything unfolded exactly as in the first fight, including a headbutt, including being
00:42:04
muscled around. He understood that he wasn't going to win this fight, that Holyfield still had his number. There
00:42:09
was no way for him to prevail. He landed some big punches that did not have any effect on Holoffield. I think a feeling
00:42:17
deep inside himself that he was going to lose again and he didn't want to get knocked out. So, this was a an exit out
00:42:25
of the fight without getting knocked out. I mean, you don't have to think that you're losing the fight. What you
00:42:30
have to think is that this guy is not falling after I'm hitting him with my best shot. And in I think it was in the
00:42:38
third round that Tyson was having his best round when he decided to beat him uh in the year. He
00:42:48
was Tyson was without a doubt he was uh he lacked confidence to win. He knew that he could not beat this guy. He was
00:43:00
sure that it was impossible to beat this guy. So he says, you know, he beat his ear. Tyson's corners showed their
00:43:08
colors. A melee erupted in the ring. An army of police stormed the ring to restore order. Well, it was a melee. I
00:43:15
mean, it was a melee from the word go, not just in the ring, but in the casino afterwards. The whole place was uh was
00:43:21
chaotic and uh it was a fitting end to that whole comeback. It was very nasty. There were people in the crowd, of
00:43:27
course, insensed by what they'd seen. There were fights breaking out all over the place and I'm not surprised that MGM
00:43:33
have sort of turned their backs on boxing. While Holyfield was rushed to the hospital with a towel placed over
00:43:39
his near severed ear to stop it from falling off, the fighter, once known as the baddest man on the planet, took the
00:43:46
long walk from the ring back to his dressing room. Tyson and his entourage were pelted with cups and bottles and
00:43:55
whatever else the outraged crowd could find to throw at them. I saw him actually leaving the hotel
00:44:01
property and where some guy yelled at him uh called him a loser. Uh and Tyson actually tried to get out of the car and
00:44:09
get at the guy and he was restrained. So I mean the the level of frustration uh was dialed up pretty high and it didn't
00:44:16
go down. I was inside the casino and freaking people just started with shots fired.
00:44:26
The media had a field day. Pictures of the bite were splashed across the front pages of virtually every newspaper in
00:44:33
the world. Tyson was condemned, ridiculed, and sports writers were near unanimous in declaring that he should
00:44:41
never be allowed to fight again. I saw what millions of people around the world saw. And I've been a boxing writer for
00:44:48
more than 30 years. I was horrified at what I saw. That's nothing to do with boxing. That's what happens out on the
00:44:55
street, unfortunately. And if I had my way, I would have banned Tyson. The State of Nevada Athletic Commission held
00:45:02
the same opinion. On July 11, 1997, they revoked Tyson's license to box. From rape to revocation, the
00:45:11
greatest fighter of his generation had become the living, breathing epitome of every reququum for a heavyweight story
00:45:17
ever told. I'm not bigger than boxing. Boxing doesn't need me, but I can survive without boxing. And just like
00:45:23
boxing could survive without me, Tyson wasn't finished. He knew he could earn a living. He began by turning to
00:45:32
wrestling. I would like to announce that Mike Tyson will be in effect the enforcer. He will
00:45:40
be on the outside of the ring in somewhat of a guest referee capacity. There is precedent for this. If some of
00:45:48
you recall, all the way back to Russell Mania 1 in Madison Square Garden, Muhammad Ali was in a similar capacity.
00:45:55
And with that in mind, I believe we have some videotape footage of Ali. Mike knows that other fighters in the
00:46:05
history of boxing who were on on their last legs financially had to do the same thing. And at that point in their
00:46:11
careers, it was a very much of a blow to their their legend. I respect what you've done in the boxing
00:46:20
world, but when you step in this ring, you're messing with Stone Cold Steve Austin, and that's something you don't
00:46:27
do. I think it's sad. Wrestling is not a sport. Uh, one of the great films about
00:46:35
boxing, Reququum for Heavyweight, ends with a with a fighter becoming a wrestler. Uh Joe Lewis, the great great
00:46:43
Joe Lewis, ended up as a wrestling referee. To see him now at almost age 32 involved in in wrestling, which is,
00:46:55
you know, ga burlesque is is a little sad. Ladies and gentlemen, the WWF official has informed me that he is
00:47:03
ordering Triple H in China to win the win. March 6, 1998. While waiting to regain
00:47:14
his boxing license, Tyson broke with Don King. Suing King for $100 million, alleging that King had cheated him out
00:47:22
of tens of millions of dollars over more than a decade. Mike Tyson himself over the years has
00:47:29
said he knew that people were robbing him. Uh he's contributed to uh to that by staying with people that he knew
00:47:37
would rob him. He didn't understand money. A lot of it was coming in and going out. And like a lot of
00:47:46
young people, he thought it would never end. If I would have been a nice guy and
00:47:52
kept quiet and continue to let people take advantage of me. I I would I would have been kept writing, "Oh, he's
00:47:58
brilliant. He's a magnificent fighter. He's such a enemy scholar. He's talked to us. He handled us like a scholar.
00:48:05
Once we stand up and we fight for ourselves and we're prepared to challenge anybody, don't care how much
00:48:10
money they have, don't care how much power they have, because it's right. While Tyson's professional life
00:48:15
continued to proceed in the harsh glare of the media spotlight, he quietly married Dr. Monica Turner. Turner was a
00:48:22
regular visitor while Tyson was in prison. The couple have avoided the limelight and have started a family. One
00:48:28
of the questions I've been asked is, can he can he change? I have no doubt that he wants to change. I suspect he'll try
00:48:35
to surround himself with people who will try to help him change. I don't know whether he will really permit himself to
00:48:44
submit to a a strong trainer and really go back to doing what he did it when he was young and loved it and had great
00:48:53
ambition. And then there's the other question of whether even if he has all of that, whether at his age he can
00:48:59
change. Mike Tyson's life has been a series of monumental highs and devastating lows. His, in many ways, is
00:49:07
the quintessential story of modern American celebrity. His face has been splashed on magazines and newspapers
00:49:14
around the world as the triumphant athlete and the disgraced champion. He's a living legend. His
00:49:21
story a work in progress. The final acts are still being written. Oh, he he is a
00:49:28
victim, but he's also responsible for his own actions. Uh Don King didn't uh rape Desiree Washington. Don King didn't
00:49:37
bite Aander Holoffield's ear. Don King was a terrible influence on Tyson and he put Tyson into an environment of
00:49:45
criminals and drug dealers and pimps uh and ex-cons who I think brought out the worst in Mike Tyson. But Mike has to
00:49:54
face the responsibility for his own [Music] actions. Is Tyson destined to suffer the
00:50:06
fate of so many fighters before him? Will he fade from public view, slipping silently back into the streets from
00:50:13
which he came? I always thought like when you're famous fighter, I used to watch the fighters,
00:50:19
they always had women. I thought that was the key to always be the fancy women had the cars and you know I mean to be
00:50:23
very flashy and luxurious you know what I mean but then again all those fighters
00:50:27
they wind up broke died then furnished apartments legendary fighters peerless fighters which no man could match them
00:50:36
at their prime wind up broke died you know what I mean with no money all the girls they had left them all the people
00:50:43
that say you're the best champ I'm your friend left them they died alone I grew up with CUS, you know, I
00:50:50
mean, and we never had a value for money, you know what I mean? Cut always cuss main objectives, you know, I mean,
00:50:54
when I he said once, this is what C said, money is a force sense of security, you know, I mean, don't put a
00:51:00
whole bunch of trust in it, you know, I mean, it helps you get out a lot of problems, but, you know, I mean, don't
00:51:05
rely on it. You know, I mean, you know, I mean, have a great independent, you know, I mean, the main objective is to
00:51:10
be your own man. Be independent. And, you know, I mean, once you have a family and you have a wife, there's no longer
00:51:16
you. Your what? Family comes first. Regardless of the situation, your career doesn't come before your your family.
00:51:21
Your family comes first. You know what I mean? [Music] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [Music]