The movie "Tyson" chronicles Mike Tyson's life as a 12 year old boy, with 38 arrests to his credit,in Brooklyn to the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. It was fame and fortune more then the mean streets of Bronsville Brooklyn that lead to Tyson's downfall that eroded his talents in the ring and civility out of it. Tyson after being taken under the wings of "Trainer of Champions" Cus D'Amato who fine tuned his talents as a boxer as well has gave him, with Cus's wife, a family passed away leaving Tyson alone and open to be exploited by wannabe shysters like boxing promoter Don King as well as gold diggers like his first wife Robin Givens and her Moma Ruth Roper. By the time they got through with Mike he not only ended up losing his title , "The Baddest Man on the Planet Earth", as world heavyweight champion but most of his estimated hundreds of millions he won in the ring.
The knock-out punch that really did Tyson in was his conviction of raping 18 year old Miss African American contestant Desiree Washington whom many people who followed the trail feel Tyson was innocent of. We get to see a shy and at the same time out of control Mike Tyson turn his life around for the better with the help of his surrogate father Cus D'Amato who taught him to keep his aggressions in not out of the ring. It was Cus' death that left Tyson open to all the troubles that was to haunt him all his professional and personal life. Becoming the youngest man to win the heavyweight crown at the age of 20 by knocking out Trevor Berbick in the 2nd round on November 22, 1986 in Las Vages Tyson was unstoppable in the ring successfully defending his crown nine times. That's until he met journeyman boxer Buster Douglas in Tokyo Japan in early 1990. A 40 to 1 long-shot Duglas busted Tyson up for 9 rounds and in the 10th knocked him on queer street taking the title away from him. The fact that Tyson, who was drinking and partying instead of training for the fight, and his off the books manager Don King never took Douglas seriously was the main reason for his shocking defeat.
Just when Tyson was on his way to regain his lost heavyweight crown him becoming a judge in the Miss African American contest in Indiana ended up in a worst disaster then his loss to Douglas. Accused of rape by Miss Washington and standing trail it seemed that Tyson's reputation more then the evidence, that everyone felt was flimsy, that convicted him. Now in the spring of 1995 a convicted rapist and registered sex offender Tyson is given a second or is it third chance to regain his champion belt is where the movie ends.
The film Tyson to its credit shows Mike Tyson as a both troubled youth and man who's life suffered mostly from those who exploited his talents and money for their, not his, own personal gain. Still we can't excuse Tayson for his life of crime, mostly as a youth, and violence since he had everything going for him and ended up blowing it. And with that he blew his chance of possibly being the greatest heavyweight, topping the likes of Ali Marciano Dempsey and Joe Louis,champion in boxing history.
