Mike Tyson's Many Personalities

Mike Tyson has always been a man of contradictions. It's what makes him so interesting. People have always known about his parentless upbringing and the way Cus D'Amato became Tyson's legal guardian, using boxing as a way to turn Tyson into something, anything, because without boxing, Tyson would have amounted to nothing more than a criminal (which he also would remain throughout his life). His loss to Buster Douglas set off a sequence of events that altered Tyson's reputation numerous times. His first prison sentence turned him into a "savage animal," which was later reinforced by his biting off a piece of Holyfield's ear. Then some cupcake fights and another prison sentence turned him into a punch line. Tyson would no longer be "the baddest man on the planet."

Tyson has always fascinated me. Even though he had already established his reputation as one of the best boxers in history well before I became aware of athletes or other stars with larger-than-life personalities—I was only four years old when Tyson won the International Boxing Federation, World Boxing Association, and World Boxing Council heavyweight titles—the myth of "Kid Dynamite" persisted long enough to leave a lasting impression on me. Here was a guy who seemed so lost and fragile that, anytime he spoke, I wouldn't have been been surprised to see the wrong comment send him shattering into a million pieces, yet at the same time was capable of destroying anyone who crossed his path.

In some ways, Tyson's story is similar to that of a number of rags-to-riches athletes who couldn't handle their sudden and newfound wealth. Like most superstars, his private life unfolded publicly: America watched as then wife Robin Givens told Barbara Walters that being married to Tyson was "torture, pure hell," while Tyson sat by silently, lost in what he would probably call "bolivian." His former Ohio mansion—abandoned after he went bankrupt—became an internet sensation. Photographers and pop culture nerds have made numerous pilgrimages to the home, which serves as a sort of monument to unsustainable riches.

What I find most interesting about Tyson, though, is how he continues to use all the facets of his history to repeatedly reinvent himself. He has made numerous appearances on talk shows, and his cameos, including the recent appearance on The Hangover, are very popular. Most recently, the August issue of Details ran this interview, titled "Everything You Think You Know About Mike Tyson Is Wrong." It's a good interview, yes, but it's also a bit misleading because it doesn't say anything new about the man. It's a lot like the Tyson documentary released in 2008, where the audience is told a bunch of things it already knows in an attempt to change how someone feels about him.


Tyson is worth watching, and the interview is worth reading, even though it's basically pro-Tyson propaganda. I believe his story is one worth telling, if only as a precautionary tale, but also because it's impossible to know what he's thinking. At times he seems like the Mike Tyson being abashed by Robin Givens, unaware of his surroundings or even his own presence. Other times he seems hyper-aware and calculating, as if he knows you want him to say his life has been waste. He makes the totally mundane completely absurd (like drinking tea) and the completely absurd absolutely ridiculous (like SNL's "What Up With That?"). It's hard to tell if he embraces the contradictions he's become and presents it to you as entertainment, knowing people are drawn to him the way passersby stare at the scene of a car crash, or if there are some remnants of Kid Dynamite still waiting to explode.

*Top photo courtesy of Bert23 via Creative Commons License
**Photo of Mike Tyson's mansion courtesy of PenelopeJonze via Creative Commons License. Check out the rest of the photos here.