Mike I thank Joyce Carol Oates for her review essay in The New York Review of Books, 19/12/'13 entitled "Mike". Her essay is a review of a new book, Undisputed Truth by Mike Tyson with Larry Sloman. The book is published by Blue Rider. It's a big book of nearly 600 pages. Oates begins her review as follows: The afterlife of a champion boxer recalls Karl Marx’s remark about history repeating itself first as tragedy, then as farce. Even when the boxer manages to retire before he has been seriously injured, it is not unlikely that repeated blows to the head will have a long-term neurological effect, and the accumulative assaults of arduous training and hard-won fights will precipitate the natural deterioration of aging; it is certainly likely that the boxer has witnessed, or even caused, very ugly incidents in the lives of other boxers. As welterweight champion Fritzie Zivic once said, “You’re boxing, you’re not playing the piano.” For a photo of Mike Tyson and his trainer, Cus D’Amato, taken before Tyson’s first professional fight in Albany, New York, 1985 go to the following link: This content is protected ------------------------------------------------ The boxer has journeyed to a netherworld of visceral, violent experience that most of us, observing from a distance, can have but the vaguest glimmer of comprehending; he has risked his life, he has injured others, as a gladiator in the service of entertaining crowds; when the auditing is done, often it is found that, after having made many millions of dollars for himself and others, the boxer is near-penniless, if not in debt to the IRS, and must declare bankruptcy (Joe Louis, Ray Robinson, Leon Spinks, Tommy Hearns, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson,* among others). For more of this review go to this link: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/dec/19/mike-tyson/ --------------------------- Read a selection of Joyce Carol Oates's boxing writings: From On Boxing: ------------------------ To the untrained eye most boxing matches appear not merely savage but mad. As the eye becomes trained, however, the spectator begins to see the complex patterns that underlie the "madness"; what seems to be merely confusing action is understood to be coherent and intelligent, frequently inspired. Even the spectator who dislikes violence in principle can come to admire highly skilful boxing—to admire it beyond all "sane" proportions. A brilliant boxing match, quicksilver in its motions, transpiring far more rapidly than the mind can absorb, can have the power that Emily Dickinson attributed to great poetry: you know it's great when it takes the top of your head off. (The physical imagery Dickinson employs is peculiarly apt in this context.) ...for more go to: http://www.usfca.edu/jco/boxing/ ----------------------------------------- FYI: Ron Price, who occasionally posts item at this website, has been married for 46 years, has been a teacher for 35, a writer and editor for 14, an online blogger and journalist for 14, and a Baha'i for 54(in 2013).
To add to this, there are two more books on amazon uk, which you can get as a threesome for £ 36.00 1. tyson book 2. hatton book 3. spinks brothers, Brand new book just released .
I'm reading the book and am a quarter of the way through its 600 pages. The book is detailed and very introspective. Actually, I don't think I've ever read a book by someone who was so open about his own insecurities and emotions. He really tries to be honest. For a boxing fan, the chapters on Cus are absolutely fascinating, and finally tell you in detail what it was all about. Compared to the book, the Broadway show is much more superficial and clowning for the audience. For instance, his portrayal of Cus in the show is really just for a few laughs, and doesn't give you anything like the real story that the book gives. One of the other posters here said the book was astonishing, and I completely agree.
I got the book from the library and will start it soon. I'm not sure how much of it is actually truthful...I'm assuming it's kind of like when a comedian starts off a joke by saying, 'True story'...But I'm sure it'll be entertaining.
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