Tyson

One of the best things about charity shops is they often have a wide array of books you wouldn't see on the shelves of your local book store, one such book is John Hennessey's "Mike Tyson" a 98 Page hardback released in 1990 though it was after his loss to James "Buster" Douglas in February of that year. The book like many on boxing is a biographical look, in this case at Mike Tyson's career from little boy to the time he lost to Buster Douglas, so it's historically lacking much of the more recent things such as though related to the fights with Holyfield in the 1990's.

The cover has a picture of Tyson looking like he was ready to pounce, a rather good photo to start the book though for some reason one of him standing over a fallen victim just seems like it would have been a better choice. The opening chapter of the book is one of the most interesting as it looks at previous heavyweight fighters that came before Tyson trying to show his relevance in history compared to the greats such as Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali as well as the features he has similar with previous fighters. Personally as a student of the history of boxing I find these things incredibly interesting and fun to learn about.

The second chapter talks about Mike's childhood, something the fighter did brilliantly on the biopic "Tyson". For some they will find this the most amazing section of the book, reading about how "The Baddest Man On The Planet" was once a nice sweet innocent boy who looked after pigeons. It's well written if slightly on the easy side for readers who may feel he's not quite giving the readers a lot of credit for their intellect. The chapter also introduces the main character in Tyson's boxing career, Cus D'amto, his trainer who had also trained Floyd Patterson to the world heavyweight title in the 1960's. The similar sort of theme continues in the following chapter as the book talks more about how D'amto takes Tyson further under his win (even becoming his legal guardian) as boxing brings the two men together. It's quite a touching thought to think that D'amto often said that Tyson gave him a reason to live, where as without D'amto Tyson may well have been on the streets causing chaos.

Then the book starts talking about Tyson's emergence as a serious force in the professional boxing ranks, as his rise through them was so swift and destructive. The book still keeps the readers attention despite the flurry of pictures and stories related to the fighter, though you start to soon feel that the writer had a bit too much respect for "Iron Mike"maybe viewing him as better than he was through his first 19 or so fights. Though he did hardly seemed troubled as he was blowing foes out of the water very few opponents that he was fighting were worth noting as anything but journeymen there for a pay-day against the man people had started talking about.

The book then moves on to his first real test against James "Quick" Tillis which again is full of excellent information on the history of Tillis something lesser books would have ignored. Again as a fan of knowing who fought who and how things went down leading into bouts this is all too often forgotten by other books, which is what makes it a delight to see here. Then it talks about the fight with Mitch Green and again Hennessey fills the pages with delightful information on the opponent and his background as well as having wonderfully colourful glossed photo's that complete the image as well as allowing the fans to have a glimpse of the fighters in action.

The book then goes into Tyson love over-drive with his rise to the very top and his dominance for several years talking about how he beat the opponents and who they were again wonderfully detailed even though you do get the feeling Hennessey thought that Tyson was the greatest boxer ever. Again the pictures are wonderful, though some are only black and white it's hard not to lack the amount even if it does take away from space that could have been used for text. Some of the pictures, such as the ones of him in the ring, are of course pretty well seen, some of the others however, such as Mike in private or Mike on a night out at a boxing function are wonderfully rare and it gives the book that little bit of class that many lack.

The book then looks at the bad side of Tyson and the beginning of the downfall for the young wrecking ball that he was. It features mainly on the ill fated marriage of Tyson and Robin Givens the actress from the then popular "Head of Class". Again the book inter-laces the marriage (and subsequent breakdown) with boxing sewn in to the pages wonderfully combining the two. Sadly the writer seems to view Givens as one of the most attractive lady's ever in comments about pictures, which seems slightly worrying considering she was...well nothing like what he tries to say. He then gets onto the fights with Michael Spinks and Frank Bruno before getting onto the breakdown of the marriage then the loss to Douglas that shook the boxing world.

The book then does a wonderfully detailed and well worded look at the reflections on Tyson's career (and life) up to that point and even talks about the possible future . Sadly you feel this would have been much better released after his boxing career had had the curtains pulled on it rather than when he as still an active fighter. At the end of the book there's a Fight Record for Tyson, again something I find usually interesting and feel every boxing biography should have (Frank: Fighting Back also does).

As good as the book is, it all too often feels like he's trying to be too nice to Mike and at times over look his serious flaws, both inside and outside the ring. Though much of what happened in Tyson's life in regards to infamous arrests and bans (Bite fight, rape arrest) happened after the book was released it's hard to feel that the book gives a clear view of all of Tyson's career. There are plenty of books now that have Tyson's full career in them and are even more in depth than this though the best option is to take it from the horses mouth and watch Tyson the movie.