Over the weekend, I got the chance to see Tyson, the new documentary about the rise and fall former heavyweight champion of the world.  Its pretty awesome.  Its awesome in the way a 20 car pile-up on the interstate is awesome. 

You get to watch video of a young Tyson caving in the faces of the rank and file of the heavyweight order.  He’ll explain that the fire and burning he had on the night he defeated Trevor Berbick for the WBC title was not attributable to desire or intensity, but rather the raging case of gonorrhea he had contracted from a prostitute.  Tyson reminds us that while he may have sexually assaulted many women in his day, he didn’t rape  “that swine of a woman Desiree Washington”.  He talks about the leaches in his life that sucked his substantial fortune dry, namely “that wretched, slimy, reptilian mother fucker” Don King, who, as Tyson tells it, he beat up in the parking lot of the Beverly Hills hotel as “crippled old white ladies” looked on in horror.  So yeah…awesome.

The treasure trove of quotes aside, its an extremely telling look into Mike Tyson’s life.  The man is articulate, he’s aware of his mistakes, and believe it or not, seems genuinely motivated not to repeat or prolong them.  At the end you feel sorry for him, you love him, you are proud of him, and you are disappointed about what his career legacy could have, and maybe should have been.

The DVD will be out August 18th.