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Director James Toback and boxer Mike Tyson have been friends for years. Tyson played himself in two of Toback’s films. I think this is the key to this documentary’s success. Tyson opens up and gives his point of view on his career and his behavior. He makes sense of actions that made no sense before.

Tyson’s early life was not easy. He was a heavy kid who was beat up often. His mother slept around with men. At an early age, he fell in with thieves and thugs. Eventually he was arrested and put in juvenile detention. That is where he got into boxing. When he was set for release his boxing trainer didn’t want to see him fall back into crime, so he sent him to see pro trainer Cus D’Amato. At first Tyson thought about robbing the old white man, but soon he came to respect him and later love him like a father.

Tyson talks about all the episodes of his life with candor. When talking about Cus, he gets choked up. Cus gave him discipline and direction. On the cusp of his stardom, Cus died and he was left to the wolves. Tyson refers to boxer promoter Don King as a crook. While many saw his first wife, actress Robin Givens, as a gold digger, Tyson is reasonable about their problems. He writes them off as being two dumb young kids. However he is not as kind to Desiree Washington, the beauty pageant winner who accused him of rape, which led to his imprisonment. Tyson admits to taking advantage of other women, but insists not her.

As for his boxing career, Tyson comes off as a dedicated student of the sport. He understands his strengths and his weaknesses. His desire to knock people out early was part his attempt to be dominant but also part of his strategy to overcome his weak lungs that are a detriment the longer the match goes on. Tyson admits to getting cocky and lazy and not training when he faced off against Buster Douglas. After his time in prison, he couldn’t trust anyone and was on edge all the time. In his first fight with Evander Holyfield, Tyson claims Holyfield kept headbutting him. The same thing happened in the second fight and Tyson says he went insane and lost total control. He didn’t want to win the fight; he just wanted to hurt Holyfield so he bit off his ear. Even going up against friends like Lennox Lewis, Tyson was on edge and started fights during press conferences. Everyone wanted a piece of Tyson and he was losing his love for the sport. He was in it for the paycheck.

Some look at Tyson as an animal. Some hear his lisp and think he’s an idiot. This documentary makes him look like a fat kid scared of being messed with. That fear has led to anger and defensiveness. As a kid he looked up to hustlers in their fancy suits. He came from nothing and made millions and never quite figured out how to handle it. Conquering many women was just part of becoming a great man in his mind.

He’s reflective about it all now. He’s smarter than people give him credit for. In an interview following right after his loss to the lesser fighter, Kevin McBride, Tyson talks about not caring about boxing and taking the fight just for a paycheck to support his family. Watch how his people fidget behind him. But who’s going to stop Mike Tyson from telling the truth?

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