Title: Undisputed Truth: My Autobiography
Authors: Mike Tyson and Larry Sloman
Publisher: HarperSport
ISBN: 9780007502530
By Fakhry Asa’ad
Quote:
Fear is the greatest obstacle to learning. But fear is your best friend. Fear is like fire. If you learn to control it, you let it work for you. If you don’t learn to control it, it’ll destroy you and everything around you.” – Mike Tyson
The first boxing fight I recalled watching was the first title match between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield in 1996. My father and I rooted for Tyson on the television, but he lost his world heavyweight title that day. He went for a rematch the following year, where the infamous incident of him biting Holyfield’s ear happened.
Love him or hate him, ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson is a boxing icon and one of the most fascinating sporting figures of our time. In this no-holds-barred autobiography, Tyson narrated the whole story from his side: from poverty to stardom to hell and back again.
For his boxing fans, he goes into a lot of detail about his relationship with long-time trainer Cus D’Amato and the art of boxing.
Cus not only carved the boxing skills of the great Mike Tyson, but he also developed his mindset, introducing him to great historical characters like Alexander the Great. This is the biggest moment that stood out to me in this book, if we’re considering the success of his career, as sport is not all about physical skill and endurance. Psychology sits at the heart of everything.
On life, Mike also tells the story about his childhood, being in an alcoholic home without a father and being traumatised by beatings, something that lead to his later alcoholism and drug addiction. He is honest about his juvenile delinquency and sums it up pretty good, where he said, “I did a lot of bad things.”
He then goes into detail about his rape conviction involving Desiree Washington. From his side, he would have made me believe that he was an innocent victim. But he doesn’t quit pull it off, although he did succeed in raising some doubts in my mind. He also portrays himself as a victim of racism, as a black man in a “white man’s system.”
Much of the rest of the book is spent detailing a life of debauchery, cocaine addiction, and occasional acts of violence. There is also a good expose of popular boxing promoter Don King, as well as a good look at how opportunists take advantage of the legal system to try and fleece celebrities.
The book is at its best when he talks about the pain and heartache of losing his 4-year-old daughter. We begin to see the human side of him. This is when Tyson was at the most vulnerable point in his life, which is something we thought would never happen to the once “Baddest Man on Earth”.
I remembered one interview when he said he lost sight of life when he lost his daughter, and the interviewer asked him how did he recovered from that. Mike answered “I haven’t. I just know that to make my daughter happy, I have to do good things and be positive.”
Towards the end, he gets married and paints himself as a committed family man. There are signs of real spiritual growth.
“People often ask me what I regret in my life. I regret sleeping with all those women. I used to brag about that but now I’m so embarrassed by my conquests.”
When you hear Mike Tyson speak now, he is such an inspiration to listen to because you can see how far he has come with his own mindset and thoughts. He often talks about the importance of finding peace with yourself. Without that, all the money and the fame are worth nothing, and ultimately, will only create more chaos.
The language of the book is the language of the street and the reader should expect a lot of profanities.
If you’re fan of Mike Tyson or boxing in general, this is worth reading. For those who are more interested in personal development or mindset, there is a lot to take from this book, including values.
