Former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson was a troubled New York boy with a knack for throwing ferocious punches. At 20, Tyson became a household name when he won the World Boxing Council heavyweight title. Nintendo featured Tyson in his own video game. He dispensed with boxing's biggest names: Holmes, Spinks and Ruddock.
In 1991, Tyson's career ground to a halt when he was found guilty of raping Desiree Washington. Tyson spent three years in prison. Upon release, Tyson fought Evander Holyfield and bit off part of Holyfield's ear. After the Holyfield incident, Tyson dabbled in pro wrestling, and lost a high-stakes match against Lennox Lewis. He never again had a shot at the crown, retiring with a record of 50 wins, six losses and two no-contests.
Despite money troubles, Tyson has enjoyed success and popularity in his post-boxing career. He had a star turn in 2009's "The Hangover." He tended to his 350 pet pigeons. And now, under the tutelage of director Spike Lee, Tyson has embarked on a one-man stage show called "Undisputed Truth."
Tyson will perform "Undisputed Truth" on January 24th at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut. Tyson joined Jim Braude and Margery Eagan on Boston Public Radio to discuss his career, his personal troubles, and his hope for the future.
Explain what you're doing up there on stage.
Listen, I don't know. (laughs) I'm going to go on stage and talk about life, from the day I was born until now. I go through a bunch of things people are familiar with. A bunch of adversity, a bunch of high points and low points, it's a rollercoaster of emotions — I'm all over the place. (...) It kind of took on a life of its own, and I'm grateful for it.
Why did you decide that you wanted to expose everything you've been through on stage?
You know, I saw Chad Paliminteri's [one-man show] "A Bronx Tale" on stage, and he was pretty much doing that about his life. We wanted to hear whatever word he said — every iota of a word he said we wanted to hear him — and close to the end of the show I was telling my wife, I want to make people feel like [Palminteri] made me feel. It was just an unbelievable feeling that came upon anybody in that theater, and I wanted to do my show in a similar fashion.
You're standing up there for 90 minutes. What if you forget something?
It's pretty scripted, but I'm ad-libbing so much that I change the whole script. The energy that the people give me, most of it is ad-libbing. It's my life, I know my life!
How does the stage show compare to what you used to do, fighting in front of millions of people?
It's the same excitement — the possibility that you might fail, the possibility that the crowd may not accept you. The only difference is, I may not have to go to the hospital after every show.
How are you after all those years of boxing?
I'm just fortunate that I speak a lot better now than before I started boxing. Maybe the punches helped a little, I don't know.
What's with the pigeons?
It's just a subculture, it's just what we do. If I'm an old man, I'm dying, somebody's going to have to pick up the birds before I die. If I'm 90 I'll have birds. It's just what we do.
You talk about how watching hawks trying to hunt pigeons was a spiritual experience. Why?
People don't know that hawks and falcons are more unsuccessful than successful at apprehending these birds.
What's it like to work with Spike Lee?
"Spike Lee cut down all the expenses and just put me up there, emotionally naked, facing the crowd. It was a great experience. I'm very grateful."
Spike is just (...) a serious guy, he had me up there by myself. Before, when I first started the show I had a rock band and a vocalist and a guitar player. He cut down all the expenses and he just put me up there, emotionally naked, facing the crowd. It was a great experience. I'm very grateful, I have a great deal of gratitude that I worked with him.
We know you're going through 12 steps and working on recovery. When you were young you had the high-flying lifestyle. Were you happier then, or are you happier now?
Happiness is just a word. I'm a different person now. I had a lot of stuff back then but I didn't get nothing done. I don't have a tenth of what I had back then, but I'm accomplishing so much. I've got the show, I'm working with my wife. I'm very grateful in life. (...) I don't know about happiness. I'm not 24-hours-of-the-day, consistently happy. That's just not reality. I take life like it comes.
Having read interviews with you, a happy day for Mike Tyson is a day without Don King. Is that a fair statement?
That's a good statement, too. A happy day, (...) no matter whatever happened, I'm coming home to my family, my wife, I'm not in jail, I'm not drinking, and that's an awesome day for me.
Is there anything off-limits in the show? Biting Holyfield's ear? The rape conviction?
No way. You saw the HBO show. It's balls-to-the-floor, man.
Are you feeling physically okay these days? Do you have aches and pains from the ring?
It's not from the ring, but it's from me overextending my workouts —
— I never had that problem, let me tell you —
— I'm at the doctor right now for my joints and stuff because I used to run too much, and that wore all the fluid out of the joints in my foot. So I have to get injections.
You've started a boxing company, right?
I'm promoting young fighters. It took off slowly but we're on our way, and we're coming full speed ahead. We've already had three shows, two on television, and we've far succeeded anybody else as far as the ratings were concerned. We've battled against the Orange Bowl and all these things. (...) I'm just very grateful that people are willing to come support my cause.
>> Hear the whole BPR interview with Mike Tyson:
