Tyson doc clip

A new documentary about Mike Tyson, titled TYSON has been getting considerable buzz for a while now and it is set to play tomorrow at Sundance. You can check out a first clip from the movie over HERE.

Mike Tyson is a personal hero of mine. I know that with the public perception of him that might sound pretty bad but my dad is a boxing fanatic and my brother is an amateur boxer in preparation for going pro, and so it was part of growing up in our house that anyone who was routinely destroying people in the ring would be worshiped. Even for people like me, who don’t usually enjoy documentaries, this has the material for something extremely interesting.

Tyson, is an extremely troubled individual, replete with insecurities, in spite of being the youngest boxer ever to win the world heavyweight title (at just 20) and in spite of almost always being smaller than the guy he was fighting. And that was back when the title was arguably the greatest individual achievement in sport. Father figures deserted him constantly and the people who did try and stick around, mostly did so to take advantage of him. He broke down into tears before fights on numerous occasions, worried that if he lost people would no longer like him. The only thing that I worry about is that so many have already tried to tell this story that maybe there is nothing new for filmmaker James Toback to give us.