- 2 days ago
Rise, fall, re-rise and re-fall of the Baddest Man on the Planet (Aired in 2006, outdated)
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Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
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00:00Five seconds left in the game.
00:08Do you believe in miracles?
00:10Yes!
00:11He is moving like a tremendous machine.
00:14Secretariat by 12.
00:24Kerry Strong has won the gold medal for the United States team.
00:28The greatest goal scorer in National Hockey League history.
00:33Michael Johnson running to the road into Olympic history.
00:36He destroys his old record.
00:54Hello, I'm Chris Fowler for SportsCentury.
00:57He followed two paths.
00:59One led to moments of boxing greatness and worldwide respect.
01:03The other led to prison, public disgrace, and a psychological maze from which he may never escape.
01:10Yet, as we'll see over the next hour, Mike Tyson fights on, doggedly searching for the light of redemption,
01:16while haunted by the dark alleys of a past no child ever deserved.
01:21Mike Tyson comes from a place that you and I would prefer not to even visit.
01:50It was a bad neighborhood.
01:54It was a survival of the fittest, the basest of instinct.
01:57True, true.
01:57Growing up as a kid who hung around girls a lot when he was a kid, little girls, and he developed a lift and began kind of talking like a gal.
02:08And how he got abused by boys, beat up, and he never fought back.
02:14He was a kid who collected pigeons.
02:16He had a kid, took one of his pigeons and just ripped the head off the pigeon.
02:20And what happened to him, finally it turned to Mike.
02:22And it's the first time he ever fought back.
02:25And he beat the hell out of the kid.
02:28And he found out when he hit people, they stayed hit.
02:30And they fell asleep for minutes on end.
02:33And he suddenly said, I'm not going to take this stuff anymore, I'm just going to fight back.
02:37And that's when Mike turned from the victim to the executioner.
02:40Like, he said, I'm going to fight back.
03:08This man was a killer.
03:16He was there.
03:17He came in without a robe.
03:19He came in without trap-offs.
03:21He came in to destroy you, and you knew it.
03:25He was flattening everybody.
03:28And here's this guy walking around with these black trunks and black shoes
03:31and looking like, you know, something who had emerged out of the primordial ooze.
03:36Yeah!
03:37Rat left, we'll sit it out.
03:39You're gonna fight, fight, fight, and destruct the world
03:41because I'm the best fighter in the world.
03:43When Mike Tyson stood in his corner and the bell rang
03:46and banged his gloves together, and all you could see were his eyes,
03:50and they were ferocious, and he ran across the ring.
03:53There was an adrenaline rush that you had that was just astonishing.
03:58All you could see were his eyes because that was the only thing on his body
04:02that didn't move that fast in a blur.
04:06His hands move too fast to look at, feet move too fast, arms, neck, chest, body move too fast.
04:16He was dynamic.
04:27Mike Tyson wanted to kill people.
04:30Kid dynamite.
04:31He hits you like a stick of dynamite and your head blows off.
04:33He was a guy without pity.
04:36He did not give a s*** about the guy he was fighting.
04:39Nothing.
04:39How dare them challenge me with their somewhat primitive skills.
04:43They're just as good as dead.
04:44I watched him in Atlantic City against Michael Spinks,
04:48and he came out that night, and Michael Spinks looked across the ring and didn't want to fight.
04:54This was a man who was going to break Rocky Marciano's 49 straight wins.
04:57This was a man who was the baddest man on the planet.
05:02His words, an extension of John L. Sullivan's, I can...
05:05Michael Spinks was undefeated and had beaten Larry Holmes at least once.
05:11Some say twice, but that was a robbery.
05:14For somebody who's undefeated and never lost before to be scared of somebody else,
05:21that somebody else is to be a threat.
05:24I'd lick any son of a b***h in the house.
05:29Come one, come all, because nobody can get close to me.
05:32They're not even close.
05:33I'm the best fighter in the world.
05:35Of his first 37 fights, Tyson was perfect.
05:39But out of the ring, his life was a shambles,
05:42in part due to a borderline personality disorder
05:45that would not be accurately diagnosed until late in his career.
05:50There's just this up and down cycle because
05:53while he was on medication for years, he couldn't fight on it.
05:57So for him to be able to fight effectively, he had to go off the medication.
06:03People who go on and off their antidepressant medications
06:07typically are not well managed.
06:09Their moods go up and down with their medications.
06:13Their anger management goes up and down as their medications fluctuate.
06:19Now for Mike Tyson as a boxer, if he's going to fight,
06:23he needs to go on and off his medications depending on his fights.
06:28That is a very tricky thing for Mr. Tyson
06:31and those who are trying to help him.
06:34If he remains on those drugs, he can't be aggressive
06:37because they take away his aggression.
06:38And so, you know, it's, um, wow.
06:45It's just combustible.
06:48Tyson's emotional instability was demonstrated
06:50before the world at the MGM Grand in June of 1997.
06:54Oh, my goodness, he's got a bloody right ear.
06:58Holyfield bit by a dirty Mike Tyson.
07:01He bites Evander Holyfield and the commission insists
07:04that he get a psychiatric evaluation before they can go further.
07:08And they come back with a diagnosis basically
07:10that anger management has to be dealt with.
07:12Now, what is anger management?
07:13He suffers from rage attacks.
07:16What are rage attacks?
07:18They are uncontrolled responses to even minor provocations
07:24in which there's anger and aggression,
07:27hitting out, striking out.
07:29They can be dangerous and they're not well controlled.
07:32He's a ticking time.
07:42He's a ticking time on right now.
07:44He hasn't straightened anything out.
07:46If anything, he's getting more confused.
07:48Come on, anybody in here can't f**k with this man, buddy.
07:51This is the ultimate, man.
07:52F**k you, you hoe.
07:54Come and say in my face, I'll f**k you ass for everybody.
07:57I will not be saying anything to his face.
08:00You dead coward.
08:01You've got man enough to f**k with me.
08:03You can't last two minutes in my world, bitch.
08:05Look at you s**t now, you hoe.
08:07Scared like a little white b*****y.
08:09Scared of the real man.
08:11I'll f**k you till you love me, f**k.
08:13That's pretty damn good.
08:14In order to get his anger management under good control,
08:19he has to compromise himself as a boxer.
08:22In order to be the best prize fighter he can,
08:25he has to stop his medications.
08:28So no matter what happens,
08:30I think he has a difficult road to home.
08:36The youngest of Lorna Tyson's three children,
08:39Mike came into the world on June 30th, 1966,
08:42in Brooklyn, New York.
08:45Things started going wrong for Mike when he was born.
08:48When he was born in the blood hole belly of Brownsville.
08:51And didn't know his father.
08:53His dad left when his mother was pregnant with Mike.
08:56And his mother was just kind of outmatched,
09:00I think, by the world.
09:02She believed in God.
09:04In a world where there couldn't be a God.
09:06With no one to supervise him,
09:10Tyson began striking back
09:11when other kids his age were watching cartoons.
09:15His MO was to stand outside of a supermarket
09:19to fool the old ladies that I was a nice kid
09:23and I would carry their food back to the projects.
09:26May I please help you with your packages to go?
09:28And he'd help them
09:29and then he'd freaking knock their teeth out.
09:31Sixty-year-old women.
09:33When the elevator door closed.
09:35He and another little kid steal some pigeons from a guy.
09:38And they catch Tyson and the other kid.
09:40And they're up on a roof of a tenement.
09:42And they tie a rope around the kid's neck
09:44and throw him over the edge to kill him.
09:46What?
09:50Mike had dropped out of school in the fourth grade
09:53to start running with his gang,
09:55and the jolly stompers.
09:57They'd beat people up
09:57and then they'd rub their fingers in the snow
10:01to get their rings off them.
10:03It was pretty strong stuff.
10:05He went into Spofford House,
10:08a juvenile detention facility when he was 11.
10:11He goes into reformatory when he's 12
10:14on an 18-month sentence.
10:16God knows what went on in those places.
10:18Heaven help us.
10:19But then he ended up in Tryon,
10:21the boys' place upstate.
10:22And there, he was discovered by a guy named Stuart, a guard.
10:29I think the first time he saw Mike,
10:30he was chained to a radiator.
10:32Probably one of the most insecure kids I ever saw at that age.
10:36Scared to death of everything.
10:39In an effort to instill...
10:40Mike Tyson had to go box.
10:42He was a tank.
10:45I mean, he was already built.
10:47With full discipline and confidence in Tyson,
10:50Bobby Stewart, a counselor at Tryon and a former fighter,
10:54began to spar with him daily.
10:57He hit me the hardest straight left hand
10:59that I've ever been hit with.
11:00I went straight home to my wife after with a broken nose
11:03and saying, I can't fool this kid no more.
11:05Stewart calls to Castiamato and says,
11:09hey, I got somebody here you're not going to believe.
11:11He said, I have a young kid named Mike Tyson
11:13who wants to box.
11:16And I'd like to bring him down
11:18for you and Teddy to take a look at.
11:21If anyone could handle Tyson,
11:24it was Constantine Cus D'Amato.
11:26He had already turned two street-hardened talents
11:28into world champions,
11:30Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres.
11:32But for all his legendary teaching skills,
11:35D'Amato was living in boxing exile.
11:38He brought up in a tough part of Manhattan.
11:43He fought a one-man battle against the mob,
11:45not fighting the fighters they wanted him to fight.
11:49But he was a strange, strange man.
11:52He was only one Cus D'Amato.
11:54I mean, he was, in my opinion,
11:55he was the smartest man that boxing ever produced.
11:59I think a light bulb went off.
12:00Cus says, I have found my Sonny Liston.
12:04I'm going to do everything to coddle him,
12:06to protect him, to develop him.
12:09He is my revenge on the world.
12:13Mike was going to be Cus's legacy,
12:16Cus's epitaph, Cus's vindication
12:19after all the years that he had been
12:22out in the Siberia of boxing,
12:25out of boxing, basically.
12:28He had that innate, Dempsey-like aggression.
12:32He wanted to maim you with every punch.
12:36The speed was breathtaking.
12:38And you can see that this kid
12:39could become another Dempsey,
12:43another Marciano,
12:45physically,
12:46that it was all there as a teenager.
12:48That style with the hands here
12:52and the bobbing and weaving
12:53was really old school.
12:55But it worked for Mike Tyson
12:56because that created enormous leverage
12:59which gave him the additional power
13:01that made him into the ultimate killing machine.
13:06On his 14th birthday,
13:08Tyson was paroled
13:10and placed in the custody of D'Amato,
13:11who owned a gym in rural Catskill, New York.
13:14D'Amato's reclamation project
13:16began immediately.
13:18Cus was like a father to Mike.
13:21He had to build up his character
13:23and his confidence
13:25to motivate Mike
13:27and to show Mike
13:28that he could become somebody.
13:31This old white philosopher
13:33would come up into his room
13:34middle of the night
13:35and it was almost like a dream
13:37that would come to Tyson
13:38to hear this old man
13:40whispering in his ear,
13:41remember what I told you today,
13:43remember what I showed you,
13:44and just driving these lessons home.
13:46I mean, they would sit at night
13:48and watch these old black-and-white films
13:51of the old great boxers
13:52and they became Mike's gods as a teenager.
13:56Everything that Customato did
13:59was about Mike
14:01and was about making Mike
14:03the youngest heavyweight champion ever.
14:07That was Cus's holy grail.
14:10Tyson and Cus D'Amato,
14:12the kid and the old guy,
14:15it was like a Hollywood movie.
14:17And we were all prepared
14:19to buy into the fairy tale.
14:21I don't think any of us saw
14:23how damaged he was
14:25emotionally and psychologically.
14:28Behind the Boys Town image
14:30presented to the media,
14:31D'Amato was indulging his charge
14:33in a disturbing pattern
14:35of permissiveness.
14:37Tyson had been thrown out of school,
14:39suspended already
14:40for getting confrontational
14:42with teachers,
14:43getting physical with teachers,
14:46getting physical with other people.
14:48Teddy Atlas,
14:51when I throw Mike out of the gym,
14:52send him home,
14:53you know, just punish him.
14:55But Cus would make excuses for Mike
14:57and say, no, he's special.
14:58So there was problems
15:00and rifts between me, Cus, and Tyson
15:03in our philosophies
15:04of the disciplining of Mike Tyson,
15:06what was right and what was wrong.
15:08On his way to an amateur record
15:10of 24-3,
15:12Tyson continued to test the limits
15:14of acceptable human behavior
15:15outside the ring.
15:16The 16-year-old crossed the line
15:19in the fall of 1902.
15:21I came home
15:22and my wife was in the kitchen
15:25with her sisters
15:26and they were crying.
15:28Tyson had grabbed
15:30an 11-year-old sister
15:32and had tried to force himself on her.
15:36I had to get a hold of him.
15:38I went to the gym
15:40and all of a sudden
15:43a cab pulled up.
15:46Tyson was getting out of it
15:47and I pushed him
15:48and caught him a piece of s***
15:50and then I put the gun to his head.
15:54It was a .38.
15:56I made sure it was loaded.
15:57I pulled the trigger back.
16:00I said,
16:00you ever touch my family again,
16:02I'll kill you.
16:03Upon learning of the incident,
16:07D'Amato cut off
16:08all ties with Atlas.
16:10In March of 1985,
16:12Tyson turned pro at 18
16:14and began to wreak havoc
16:16on the heavyweight division.
16:24That was a right to the body,
16:25an uppercut to the head
16:26and Burbank is down.
16:28On November 22nd, 1986,
16:33Mike Tyson dispatched
16:34WBC champion Trevor Burbank
16:36in the second round
16:37to become, at 20,
16:39the youngest heavyweight champion
16:40in history.
16:41It's over.
16:42That's all.
16:43And we have a new era
16:45in boxing.
16:48But a year earlier,
16:50he had lost his emotional compass.
16:52D'Amato had succumbed to pneumonia.
16:56You can't underestimate
16:57what that did to Tyson's life.
17:00There was no one to keep
17:02any kind of hold
17:03or shape or form
17:04to his life.
17:07He won the heavyweight championship
17:09and he took a bottle of champagne
17:10and poured it on Cuss's grave.
17:14Tyson lapsed into a lightless world
17:16he knew all too well.
17:19He went back to Brooklyn
17:21and participated with this guy
17:24in a mugging in an elevator
17:26in the housing project there
17:27just for kicks.
17:29It was just back
17:30to the streets of Brownsville
17:32to get that feeling
17:34back inside of him
17:35that he had as a kid.
17:38Despite a sporadic pattern
17:40of social misbehavior
17:41that included sexual advances
17:43and violent confrontations,
17:45Tyson successfully defended
17:47his title six times
17:48under co-managers
17:49Jimmy Jacobs
17:50and Bill Caton.
17:52Bill was the contract man.
17:55Jimmy was the guy
17:56that had the warm
17:57personal relationship
17:59with Mike.
18:00Really the only thing
18:01that's keeping that car
18:03on the road
18:04is Jimmy Jacobs
18:05at that point.
18:08If Tyson's hold
18:09on his mainstream public image
18:11was becoming
18:11increasingly tenuous,
18:13his ring fury resonated
18:14on the streets
18:16of urban America.
18:17Hard, refuse to lose
18:20Black shorts, black shoes
18:21The body abused
18:22With shots to the body
18:24Get them ribs free
18:25The wrong cats fall confused
18:27When they lose
18:28What a shot!
18:29The black community
18:30sees Tyson
18:31very, very different
18:32and particularly,
18:33I think,
18:34with the establishment.
18:35Tyson was adopting
18:37this hip-hop image
18:38and surrounding himself
18:39with rap artists.
18:40there was just
18:41this aura that
18:42it was set up
18:44to be a good
18:44versus evil thing
18:45and Tyson bought
18:46into this.
18:47Hip-hop was about
18:48angry black guys
18:49lyrics of fury
18:51just total
18:52confrontational
18:54aggressive
18:54assertive stuff
18:56Mike took all
18:57of those metaphors
18:58and made them real.
19:00When Mike Tyson
19:01came out
19:02on Welcome to the Terror Dawn
19:03and you're coming
19:04into my house
19:05and I will skillfully
19:07and tactfully
19:08tear you down
19:09because when I walk
19:11into the arena
19:12it's on.
19:14But real life
19:15proved less simple.
19:17Six weeks after
19:18Tyson married actress
19:19Robin Givens
19:20in February of 1988
19:21Jacobs died of leukemia
19:23at 58.
19:25Over the next three months
19:26the champ's relationship
19:27with Caton dissolved
19:29while his life at home
19:30grew stormy.
19:31That June
19:32the champ unloaded
19:33in Hall.
19:35He's down again
19:36and in serious trouble.
19:38A right hand
19:40right on the chin.
19:42Six, seven, eight.
19:45He's not going to make it.
19:47It's all over.
19:49After he knocked out
19:50Michael Spinks
19:51in 91 seconds
19:53that was as good
19:54as he got.
19:56That was the last night
19:57that Kevin Rooney
19:57was his trainer.
20:00Rooney used to
20:00kiss him goodbye.
20:01That was the last
20:02kiss goodbye.
20:04There's this huge void
20:05in Tyson's life
20:06when Jacobs died
20:07okay
20:08you've got Don King
20:10swooping in
20:11like a vulture
20:11to take over.
20:14And from that point on
20:15what little semblance
20:17of order was in his life
20:18was over.
20:20Kevin Rooney was out
20:22Caton was out
20:23and
20:24then
20:25his wife
20:26and mother-in-law
20:27kind of moved in
20:28and this sorry
20:30soap opera began.
20:32Robin changed things.
20:34In fact
20:34almost as soon
20:36as they was married
20:36she called to say
20:38I'm
20:39Mrs. Mike Tyson
20:40and I'm taking over.
20:41She actually had
20:42the nerve to say that.
20:43With Caton
20:44and Rooney gone
20:45and Tyson's
20:46domestic beatings
20:47played out in headlines
20:48he spun out of control.
20:51The Mike Tyson story
20:53started on Sunday
20:54when his car
20:54hit a tree
20:55near his upstate
20:56New York training camp.
20:57Tyson was knocked
20:58unconscious
20:59for almost a half hour.
21:01Mike goes around
21:03crying out
21:04for help
21:05and the way
21:06that he does it
21:07driving cars
21:08into trees
21:09you know
21:10beating up people
21:11even things
21:12as hideous
21:13as rapes
21:14and assaults
21:16are almost
21:16Mike Tyson's way
21:18of declaring
21:19emotional bankruptcy.
21:21I can't
21:22deal with life.
21:23I can't take care
21:24of myself.
21:25You know
21:25here
21:26take care of me.
21:27take me somewhere.
21:29During an interview
21:30with Barbara Walters
21:31in September of 1988
21:33Tyson sat quietly
21:34while his wife
21:35provided to millions
21:36a window
21:37into their private life.
21:39Michael
21:39is a manic
21:41depressive.
21:42He is.
21:43I mean
21:43that's just a fact.
21:44He's got a side
21:45to him
21:45that's scary.
21:48Michael is
21:49intimidating
21:50to say the least.
21:52He shakes.
21:53He pushes.
21:54there's no question
21:57in my mind
21:58that this is
21:59an enormously
22:00emotionally
22:01disturbed personality
22:02who has not
22:04gotten the love
22:06the therapy
22:07or the medicines
22:08that he needs.
22:11People with
22:12anger management
22:13problems
22:13like Mr. Tyson
22:15would do well
22:16to have
22:17good mental health
22:19folks on the team
22:20to help you judge
22:22what medications
22:23you need
22:24to help you
22:24with your therapy.
22:26It's very hard
22:27for a person
22:28with anger
22:28and rage attacks
22:29to contain them
22:31by himself.
22:33There's nobody
22:34that I've seen
22:35in his life
22:37who has ever cared
22:38about his interests
22:40first.
22:41Everybody's wanted
22:42a piece of the
22:42golden calf
22:43and he's been
22:45the golden calf.
22:47We have friends
22:47that you can talk to.
22:49I don't have one friend
22:50in my entire life.
22:52My experience
22:53in life
22:54produced the person
22:55that I am
22:56and the person
22:57that I am
22:57I was never successful
22:59with friends.
23:01He's been hurt.
23:02He's been burnt
23:02by most people
23:03he trusted.
23:04He
23:05was crazy
23:06about robbing
23:07Givens.
23:08He got screwed
23:09over by it
23:10and being
23:11Mike Tyson
23:12who do you trust?
23:14Cut loose
23:15in an alien world
23:16Tyson began
23:17to lose
23:18the one discipline
23:19that he had mastered.
23:21He has stopped
23:22being the scientific
23:23fighter that
23:24Castiamato raised
23:25and that
23:26Kevin Rooney honed
23:28and Teddy Atlas honed.
23:31He has become
23:31a headhunter
23:32and that set him
23:34up for Buster Douglas.
23:36He just started
23:37relying on his power
23:39and not using
23:40his defense
23:41and
23:42using
23:44his skills.
23:46Tyson's
23:4710th title defense
23:48would take place
23:49in Tokyo
23:50on February 10th,
23:511990.
23:53Tyson goes over
23:54with his entourage.
23:56They're having
23:56a wonderful time.
23:57They're drinking
23:58and cavorting
23:59and everything else.
24:01He wasn't training
24:01like he should have
24:02been training.
24:03He probably had
24:04a serious false sense
24:05of security
24:06that he was
24:07unbeatable.
24:08If Tyson believed
24:10he could not
24:11be beaten,
24:11he wasn't alone.
24:13The odds of
24:14Buster Douglas winning
24:15were 42 to 1.
24:17And you've got to
24:18remember,
24:19this is a time
24:20when everybody
24:21in the world,
24:23everybody,
24:24thought Mike Tyson
24:25was the toughest
24:26guy on the planet,
24:28indestructible,
24:29could not lose.
24:30The stage is set.
24:31We're set to go.
24:33You see Mike Tyson
24:34in the black trunks
24:34traditional
24:35and Buster Douglas.
24:36And let's give
24:37Buster Douglas
24:38his credit.
24:39It's not like
24:40it was a flash knockout
24:41when Tyson
24:43was dominating him.
24:45He beat him up
24:46and then he
24:46flash knocked him out.
24:49He took
24:50majority of the rounds
24:52before knocking
24:53Tyson out.
24:54He boxed
24:55a great
24:56boxing match.
24:57What Buster Douglas
25:03did that night
25:03was
25:04beautiful.
25:07He would wait
25:08till Mike
25:09would plant his feet.
25:11Pop him twice
25:12with the left jab,
25:13move back out of range
25:14and throw the right.
25:15Same scenario
25:16over and over.
25:18When an intimidator
25:19fails to intimidate,
25:22he becomes
25:23intimidated.
25:24Buster's right
25:25and shots back.
25:26Look at this.
25:27Buster is not ready
25:29to pack it in.
25:30When Mike got
25:31into trouble
25:32in the ring,
25:33he had guys
25:34that had no
25:35boxing background
25:36really like
25:37Jay Bright
25:38working his corner.
25:40There was nobody
25:40there to give him
25:41good advice
25:42or good counsel
25:43like a
25:44Customato
25:46or a Kevin Rooney
25:47or a Teddy Atlas
25:47and then he was
25:49lost.
25:50They're trying
25:51to treat
25:51Tyson's swollen
25:53eyes
25:54with what
25:55appeared to be
25:56a prophylactic
25:57filled with ice.
25:59That is not ice.
25:59That's tap water.
26:02It was pathetic.
26:03Just total
26:03incompetence.
26:05In the eighth round,
26:06Tyson caught
26:07Douglas
26:07with his best punch.
26:08The most interesting
26:14psychological dynamic
26:15of the fight
26:16happened at that
26:16very moment.
26:17James knew
26:18he had taken
26:19Mike Tyson's
26:20best shot
26:21and he was still
26:22awake.
26:23An eighth
26:23and here it is
26:25at ninth.
26:25Is he going to get up?
26:27Yes, he does.
26:28He took his time.
26:29The ninth round
26:30begins almost
26:31as the eighth round
26:32in Mike's mind's eye
26:33had ended.
26:34This was his chance.
26:37The great rounds
26:38of heavyweight boxing
26:39of all time.
26:40Of all time.
26:41Mike Tyson came out
26:42with the intent
26:43of ending it.
26:45James knew
26:45what was coming.
26:46I was in the zone,
26:57man.
26:57I was in that zone.
26:59That zone.
27:00Immediately
27:00because he was
27:01just my time to shine.
27:02back in his heels.
27:04Doesn't have
27:04the good balance.
27:05His legs together
27:06as Buston's landing.
27:07Wow.
27:09One, two, three.
27:12And...
27:13Yeah, that's my turn.
27:15That's great commentary.
27:30Maybe the most
27:30poignant shot
27:31I've ever seen
27:32of a fighter
27:33on the canvas.
27:34Mike groping
27:35for the mouthpiece.
27:37Groping in a sense
27:38for the lost identity
27:40of Mike Tyson.
27:44Tyson lost
27:45not only his title
27:46but a part of himself
27:47that he could never regain.
27:51He had lost
27:52that thing
27:53which frightened
27:53everybody the most
27:54when they got in the ring.
27:55his aura of invincibility.
28:00Once Tyson's invincibility
28:02was shattered
28:03it was like
28:04Humpty Dumpty.
28:05All the king's horses
28:07and all the king's men
28:08couldn't put them
28:09back together again.
28:13Buster Douglas
28:15probably began
28:16the long, slow slide
28:19to tragedy
28:20because once Tyson
28:22could be beaten
28:23in a sort of
28:25symbolic way
28:26then it really was
28:27open season
28:27on Mike Tyson.
28:29You could see that
28:30Mike was headed
28:31for a brick wall
28:31in his life.
28:33It was just to be
28:34a matter of
28:34when he was going to hit it
28:35not if he was going to hit it
28:37and he hit it
28:38in Indianapolis.
28:39I always wonder
28:40why Tyson being
28:41so close to the ropes
28:42never tried to use
28:43the rope
28:43to pull himself up.
28:46I don't know
28:46if it's illegal or not.
28:48I think it's legal.
28:50It's been hard.
29:02Oh I'm in a dream
29:04day after day.
29:06Beautiful women
29:06in such an array.
29:08What can I say?
29:10Here you have a guy
29:11who probably never
29:13thought of himself
29:13as an attractive guy
29:15right?
29:16Then he becomes
29:17a heavyweight champion
29:18of the world
29:19and all of these women
29:20are available to him.
29:23He did have
29:23an appreciation
29:24for the female form.
29:26I can remember
29:26going to see him
29:27and he asked me
29:27was I going to any clubs
29:28and did I know any girls?
29:30I said yeah Mike
29:30I know a couple
29:31but I want to try
29:31to keep them away
29:32from you
29:32if I possibly can.
29:34I said why are you
29:37so rough?
29:38We're talking to women
29:39in Hollywood parties
29:40and I hear some
29:41of the things you say
29:41to these movie stars
29:42it's awesome
29:43you wouldn't say
29:44that to your mother
29:44you wouldn't say
29:45that to a bad girlfriend.
29:47He said
29:47a doctor come to see me
29:49just because of who I am
29:49they think I'm an animal
29:50some kind of gorilla
29:51they don't want to know me
29:52they just want to know
29:53this savage guy
29:54well they want to know
29:54this savage guy
29:55now I'm going to give him
29:56a savage guy.
29:57And women were turned on
29:59by the raw power
30:00and in fact
30:01the same things
30:01that made some people
30:02scared of him
30:03also made him
30:03you know very attractive.
30:05I swiftly turned around
30:07and I noticed his hand
30:08going back to his body
30:10you know away from my behind
30:11and I said try that again
30:13and I'll smack the blank
30:15out of you.
30:16Since 1988
30:17Mike Tyson has had
30:19more than a dozen brushes
30:20with the law
30:21including several
30:22involving sexual assault.
30:23In July of 1991
30:25he was arrested
30:26including several
30:29involving sexual assault.
30:31In July of 1991
30:32he was arrested
30:34and charged
30:35with the rape
30:35of 18 year old
30:36Desiree Washington
30:37a contestant
30:38in the Miss Black America
30:40beauty pageant.
30:41You know basically
30:42I'm innocent.
30:43You do not tell us
30:44Desiree Washington
30:46knows what happened
30:47I know what happened
30:48and you go
30:48to prove I'm innocent.
30:49I can't say I was shocked.
30:51It was no secret
30:52to anybody inside box.
30:53saying Tyson
30:54was roaming
30:56the sexual landscape
30:57in a very free way.
31:00Mike Tyson
31:01he was a child prodigy
31:02run amok
31:03and as often happens
31:05with child prodigy
31:06there's nobody there
31:08to say no
31:08and when somebody
31:10says no
31:11it doesn't register.
31:13He liked to hurt
31:14women during sex.
31:15What?
31:16His wires were crossed
31:17in his mind
31:18between violence
31:20and eroticism
31:21and he couldn't keep
31:23the two straight.
31:25If a woman
31:26goes with you
31:27and goes into your room
31:28and goes into your bed
31:30at 2 in the morning
31:32and then
31:33she accuses him
31:35of rape
31:36I think that Tyson
31:37didn't believe it.
31:39No means no
31:41No means no
31:43Regardless of
31:44the ulterior motives
31:46or the
31:46the situations
31:48premeditating that
31:49that brought her
31:50to his hotel room
31:51no means no
31:52rape is rape.
31:54Mike's track record
31:56and Mike's history
31:57and Mike's persona
31:58is not one
31:59to give you confidence
32:00that her
32:01no was respected.
32:04The only two people
32:05know what happened
32:06in that room
32:06are Mike Tyson
32:07and Desiree Washington.
32:09So hard evidence
32:10I don't think
32:10there was a lot
32:11of hard evidence.
32:12Get off me
32:12get off me
32:13please
32:13get off me
32:14and
32:14How hard
32:16do we want
32:17the evidence to be?
32:21Erection?
32:23And he was like
32:23don't fight me
32:24don't fight me
32:25and the question
32:26was a lot stronger
32:27than I was
32:28and he just
32:29didn't really want
32:29and I was saying
32:30stop please stop
32:31and he just
32:32didn't stop.
32:34I was at the rape trial
32:36I covered it
32:36for 14 days
32:37and all I had to do
32:39was listen to
32:40Desiree Lynn Washington
32:41say how the rape
32:42had occurred
32:43and I believed her.
32:45Anybody that listened
32:45to her believed her.
32:46It was hard not to
32:48how graphic she was.
32:50The juxtaposition
32:51of this massive man
32:52and this little bitty
32:54very young girl
32:56really had an impact
32:57and I thought
32:58that impact
32:58carried right
32:59through her testimony.
33:01Once she testified
33:02you could tell
33:03when you watched
33:04the jury
33:04that in my opinion
33:05they believed
33:06what she said
33:07and that was it.
33:11Mike Tyson
33:11is a complex
33:13injured
33:14traumatic
33:15human being.
33:17He was shown
33:18as an animal
33:19and the tactic
33:20was to present him
33:22as an animal.
33:25Suddenly
33:25there he was
33:26on the witness
33:27stand
33:27buck naked
33:28and incapable
33:30of defending himself
33:31and the prosecutor
33:33garrison
33:34beat him to a pulp.
33:37Mike Tyson testified
33:38quote
33:38I was having
33:40oral sex with her.
33:41She asked
33:42for intercourse.
33:42She never told
33:43me to stop.
33:44She never said
33:45that it hurt.
33:46She never said
33:47no.
33:48Mike Tyson
33:49was a babbling idiot
33:50and that's not
33:52to say
33:52that he doesn't
33:53have the smarts
33:54to be able
33:54to do it.
33:55He's just a guy
33:55who doesn't know
33:56how to speak
33:57in public.
33:57He can't take
33:58care of himself.
33:58He's always
33:59on the defensive.
34:00He can't handle
34:01those kinds of things
34:02with his social skills.
34:03If Tyson had sat
34:05there and never
34:05said a word
34:06looked remorseful
34:07taken a few notes
34:09maybe he would
34:10have scraped
34:11out of it.
34:12At 10.20
34:13we were notified
34:14that they had
34:16reached a verdict
34:16and within the
34:18last two minutes
34:18they have announced
34:20their verdict.
34:21Guilty on
34:21all three counts.
34:24Wait a minute
34:26this is all
34:26to find out
34:27Nancy Grease
34:27is from Georgia?
34:29It doesn't sound
34:30anything like
34:31Georgia
34:31on the
34:33nowadays.
34:35Based
34:36on facts
34:38it was
34:39maybe the
34:40most poorly
34:41defended case
34:43I had ever seen.
34:44He had a
34:45tax attorney
34:46represent him
34:47in a rape case.
34:50Vince Fuller
34:50was picked
34:51to represent
34:52Mike Tyson
34:52in a trial
34:52because he had
34:53done a great job
34:54for Don King
34:55but this case
34:55just wasn't suited
34:56for his personality
34:58unfortunately
34:59but I have to tell you
35:00Moses,
35:01Jesus,
35:02Mohammed,
35:03Clarence Darrow
35:04and Thurgood Marshall
35:05together could not
35:06have won this case
35:06because there were
35:08two prosecutors
35:08in the case.
35:09One of them
35:09was wearing a robe.
35:11I know there were
35:11a lot of people
35:11that were
35:12very anti-Tyson
35:14and wanted to see him
35:16basically sent to the gallows
35:17but I think a lot
35:18of people thought
35:18he got railroaded.
35:21On March 26, 1992
35:24Judge Patricia Gifford
35:25sentenced Tyson
35:27to serve six years
35:28at the Indiana Youth Center.
35:31He wrote me a letter
35:32inexplicably
35:34and one of the paragraphs
35:36of this letter said
35:37Mr. Gray
35:37I will never admit
35:40to raping this woman
35:41even if it lessens my time
35:44because I just didn't do it
35:45and I'm not going to say I did.
35:47However,
35:49there have been
35:49five to seven other things
35:50throughout the course
35:51of my life
35:52that I have done
35:53which are far worse
35:55than that of which
35:56I've been accused.
35:57So I feel I'm in the right place.
36:00...overving just over
36:01three years
36:02Mike Tyson was released
36:03from prison
36:04on March 25, 1995.
36:06Incredible.
36:07Outwardly at least
36:08he appeared to be
36:09a changed man.
36:11We have an image
36:12of Mike Tyson
36:13and he's reinvented himself
36:14he came out of prison
36:15with a male tattoo
36:16and spouting
36:17you know
36:18eastern mysticism
36:19and suddenly
36:19he's a quasi-educated
36:21Mike Tyson.
36:22He was in with
36:23the Muslim philosophy
36:24and the Muslims
36:26in this flying wedge
36:28were the ones
36:28escorting him
36:29and taking him
36:30out of prison
36:31and there was
36:32a power struggle there
36:33about where
36:34Don wanted Mike to go
36:36as opposed to
36:37where the Muslims
36:38were going to take him
36:39and a very determined
36:41Don King said
36:42this boy ain't going
36:44to Mecca
36:45this boy's going
36:45to Cleveland
36:46where Don lives
36:47Don King said
36:49give him anything
36:50he wants
36:50just keep him fighting
36:51fibrous watches
36:52give it to him
36:53what do you want
36:53two Rolls Royces
36:54buy it for him
36:55he had a surfeit
36:56of wealth
36:58and nothing meant
36:59anything to him
37:00and he had
37:01a great deal
37:02of self-loathing
37:03with homes
37:04with homes
37:04in four states
37:05a fleet
37:06of pricey cars
37:07and a menagerie
37:08of rare wild animals
37:10Tyson lived
37:11extravagantly
37:12inside his public bubble
37:13he had this
37:15this fierce loyalty
37:16to King
37:17that was
37:18beyond
37:19just the contractual
37:21he was a con
37:22and Don was a con
37:24that they had both
37:24done a hard time
37:25in prison
37:26that Don had even
37:28taken it a step further
37:29and killed men
37:31you know
37:32I think Mike liked that
37:34who shortens
37:35convict to con
37:36those are different words
37:39this was all about
37:40making money
37:41making money quickly
37:42and Don King
37:43who was
37:44a genius at that
37:45engineered this
37:47string of comeback fights
37:49and it was the most
37:50cynical campaign
37:51I think I've ever seen
37:52even for boxing
37:53under King's
37:55Midas touch
37:56Tyson earned
37:57huge paydays
37:58as he won
37:58three straight fights
37:59the last against
38:00WBC champion
38:02Frank Bruno
38:02in March of 1996
38:04then two months
38:06after knocking out
38:07Bruce Seldon
38:07that September
38:08for the WBA title
38:10Tyson faced
38:11the number one
38:11contender
38:12Evander Holyfield
38:13I realized that
38:15Mike was going
38:16to hit me
38:17but I knew
38:18I could take
38:18his punches
38:19the only thing
38:21that Mike
38:21hadn't shown
38:22since he came back
38:24he hadn't been hit
38:25again
38:26back Tyson up
38:26he could push him around
38:27he could take his shots
38:29he was the only man
38:31in the ring that night
38:31and he beat him
38:32senseless
38:32during their rematch
38:35in June of 1997
38:36Tyson sought redemption
38:38instead
38:39he found shame
38:40and disgrace
38:41for the first
38:43two rounds
38:43he'd gotten
38:44the jabbers
38:45beaten out of him
38:46he came out
38:47he wasn't aggressive
38:48at all
38:49and I was able
38:50to get to him
38:51he just figured
38:51I can't win
38:52there is no way
38:53I can win
38:54let me out of this
38:56I thought Holyfield
38:57would jump up
38:58and go like that
38:59and jump around
38:59and say
39:00he bit me
39:00he bit me
39:01my first thought
39:02was that
39:02you know
39:03I need to bite him back
39:04because I knew
39:05what type of person
39:05he was
39:06and then
39:07they got him back
39:07and sent him the ring
39:08and told him
39:09you know
39:09let's get to it
39:10and they got to it again
39:11and they bit him again
39:11aha
39:12I figured that was it
39:13when he could stare
39:15at guys
39:16boom
39:16gone
39:16but when he hit them
39:19and they didn't fall
39:19when he stared at them
39:21and they stared back
39:22and he couldn't
39:23overpower a person
39:24in those ways
39:25came up empty
39:26he has to go
39:28and rely on character
39:29he didn't have any
39:3111 days later
39:33the Nevada Athletic Commission
39:35unanimously voted
39:36to revoke Tyson's
39:38boxing license
39:38and fine him
39:393 million dollars
39:40with his earning power
39:42seriously diminished
39:44the ex-champ
39:45who had married
39:45Monica Turner
39:46in April
39:47demanded from King
39:48an accounting
39:49of his finances
39:50as much money
39:51as those guys
39:52have made
39:52with him
39:53they screwed him
39:55you know
39:55he got so many
39:56judases around him
39:57it's like he don't
39:58know who to believe
39:59man you know
39:59I'm just trying
40:01to get out this debt
40:02man
40:02you know what I mean
40:03that Don King
40:05got me involved with
40:06but I'm just trying
40:07to get out this debt
40:07man
40:08just so many things
40:10were going on
40:10you know
40:11with Mike's money
40:12but without Mike's
40:14knowledge
40:14he realizes King
40:16stole from him
40:16but it was a mistake
40:18Mike Tyson
40:19made twice
40:20he went with Don King
40:21in 1988
40:22and then when he came
40:24out of prison
40:24he went back
40:25to King
40:26and I think
40:27those two choices
40:28were Tyson's responsibility
40:30in 1998
40:33Tyson sued Don King
40:35for a hundred million dollars
40:36claiming the fight promoter
40:38had cheated him
40:39six years later
40:40the two antagonists
40:42settled for 14 million
40:43all of which would be applied
40:45toward Tyson's
40:4638 million dollar debt
40:47it's all been Mike
40:50it's all been Mike
40:52everybody's made bad decisions
40:55but Mike
40:56is a recidivist
40:59he is a repeat offender
41:01he doesn't stop
41:02Mike Tyson
41:03is not fighting
41:04for his place in history
41:05there was a time
41:06when Mike Tyson
41:07did fight for his place
41:09in history
41:09and it seemed assured
41:11now he's fighting
41:13because
41:14A. he needs money
41:16B. there's nothing else
41:18he can do
41:198. the results
41:23of a psychiatric examination
41:25contended that Tyson
41:26was not manic depressive
41:28but instead
41:28suffered from low self-esteem
41:30and bouts of depression
41:31days later
41:32in Nevada
41:33Tyson's boxing license
41:34was reinstated
41:35despite a recent run-in
41:37with the law
41:37on the east coast
41:38according to Maryland police
41:40Tyson punched
41:41one man in the face
41:42and kicked another
41:43in the groin
41:43following a minor
41:44traffic accident
41:45Monday
41:45Tyson pleaded no contest
41:48to a misdemeanor assault
41:49for punching two motorists
41:51he would serve
41:52three and a half months
41:53in prison
41:53and was released
41:54on March 24th
41:551999
41:56I hate to be so hard
41:59on a person
42:00who came from
42:01an impoverished
42:03and terribly hard background
42:04but what athlete
42:06has ever had
42:07more opportunity
42:09to redeem himself
42:11than Mike Tyson has
42:13how many times
42:14does one individual
42:15have to be asked
42:16are you sorry
42:17for what you did
42:19he never shows
42:20the slightest remorse
42:22at anything he's done
42:23I know this sounds
42:25terribly harsh
42:26but he is near to worthless
42:28as a human being
42:30can be
42:31in 1999
42:33Tyson continued
42:34to create mayhem
42:36not only outside the ring
42:38but also in it
42:39trying to break the guy's arm
42:41in a clinch
42:42knocking the referee down
42:44over in Scotland
42:44you know there's sort of like
42:46a trail of evidence there
42:48that suggests
42:49that if there were lessons
42:51to be learned
42:51that he didn't learn them
42:53on January 22nd 2002
42:57four days after his wife
42:58Monica filed for divorce
43:00and custody of their two children
43:01Mike Tyson charged Lennox Lewis
43:04during a promotion
43:05for their scheduled bout
43:06in Las Vegas on April 6th
43:08seven days later
43:10Tyson was denied a license
43:12to box by the Navat Athletic Commission
43:14for a second time
43:15his future as a boxer
43:16was uncertain
43:17I came into this room today
43:19with an open mind
43:20with the burden
43:22of proof being on you
43:23to prove yourself
43:25boxing will be fine
43:28when Mike Tyson leaves boxing
43:30the question is
43:33will Mike Tyson be fine
43:35when boxing leaves him
43:36after securing a boxing license
43:40in Tennessee
43:41Tyson hit a six foot
43:43five inch wall
43:44when he met Lennox Lewis
43:45in Memphis
43:46on June 8th 2002
43:48all that
43:50all the
43:51all the bravado
43:52when the press conference
43:54and
43:54oh Lennox Lewis is a line
43:57I'm cut from
43:58Dempsey and Liston's clause
44:00I want to eat his children
44:01and stuff like that
44:03all this stuff
44:04Tyson said
44:04there you go
44:06put on his back
44:08looking up at the lights
44:10there you go
44:11from opening bell
44:14it became increasingly clear
44:16the man once known as
44:18Iron Mike
44:19was history
44:20it takes some courage
44:21for Mike to get up
44:22from that shot
44:22seven
44:23eight
44:24nine
44:25he's out
44:27Lennox Lewis
44:28knocks out by Tyson
44:29it's like he waited
44:31to be counted out
44:32I was heartbroken
44:34to see him there
44:35with his eyes
44:35swollen up
44:36and his blood
44:37and the referee counting
44:38and almost looked as if
44:39he knew
44:40that this is what people
44:42wanted of him finally
44:43that it can't end
44:44until people get this
44:45that the bad guy
44:46is you know
44:47killed
44:48where do you go from here Mike?
44:52I don't know man
44:52I might just fade into Bolivian
44:54you know what I mean
44:54I don't have nowhere to go
44:56and nothing to do
44:57you know what I mean
44:57I just go find my pigeons
44:58on the roof
44:59in New York
45:00in July of 2004
45:03a heavily favored Tyson
45:04was knocked out
45:05by journeyman Danny Williams
45:07in the fourth round
45:0811 months later
45:10he didn't answer the bell
45:11for the seventh round
45:12against another
45:13unheralded opponent
45:14Kevin McBride
45:15at 38
45:17Tyson's potential
45:18for greatness
45:19was an old memory
45:20I'm not trying to take anything
45:23from Kevin McBride
45:24we know his record
45:25we know his credentials
45:26and if I can't beat him
45:28I can't even beat
45:28Junior Jones
45:29the ultimate disgrace
45:31for a boxer
45:31is to quit on the stool
45:33and that's something
45:34that he will have to live with
45:35for the rest of his life
45:37I can't do this
45:38no more
45:38you know what I mean
45:39I'm not going to lie to myself
45:40I'm not going to embarrass
45:41this sport
45:42in December of 2006
45:44Tyson was arrested
45:46near his home in Phoenix
45:47and eventually
45:48pled guilty
45:48to cocaine possession
45:50and driving under the influence
45:51although he faced
45:52a stretch in prison
45:53he got off with
45:54three years probation
45:55and a day in jail
45:57I don't think the story
45:58ends well
45:59he's so susceptible
46:00to being led astray
46:02at every turn
46:04I don't think it ends pretty
46:05I don't think he can
46:06navigate what's left
46:07of his youth
46:08and get out alive
46:10a little
46:14a little under 20 years
46:16after this
46:17Mike Tyson is alive
46:19seems well
46:21seems to be enjoying himself
46:24and he's about to turn 60
46:25in four months
46:26that 20 appeared to be
46:32a hard polished gem
46:33that had been mined
46:34from the dark shafts
46:35of poverty and despair
46:36for a while
46:37he dazzled us
46:38then all too soon
46:40his tragic flaws
46:41came under public scrutiny
46:42and we all watched his life
46:44turn and twist
46:45ever downward
46:46into a nightmare
46:47of distorted reality
46:48for SportsCentury
46:50I'm Chris Fowler
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