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POSTED:
Apr 24 2009, 03:18 PM
For those of you that are itching for more on the game, stay tuned to IGN who will be revealing more boxers from the roster.
When I was a kid, I watched Mike Tyson knock out Michael Spinks and it blew my mind. I had no idea who this guy was and he took society by storm in and out of the ring. My memories of him consisted of fast KO's and celebrity appearances whether it was in a Fresh Prince music video, a video boxing game, or even in a wrestling ring. In the film TYSON though, you will see none of those memories other than the knockouts and you will see a side of him that you might not be too familiar with.
Here is my personal review of the film that I had the pleasure of watching during last Monday's NYC premiere screening with Mike and his guests.
TYSON
He is the most feared boxer ever.
After the red-carpet screening in New York, even Mike himself said that after watching the documentary as objectively as possible, he found himself scared of this person on the screen. It is not something that he’s used to even though, during a period of his life, he would call himself God and feel capable of anything. This, in fact, was something totally new to him and, for most in the audience, it too was a very different way to see Mike express himself.
Some were used to seeing the Tyson that won the heavyweight championship at a tender age of twenty growing up with him during his storied boxing career. Some were used to seeing the Tyson whose drama outside the ring constantly put him in the spotlight. While some were used to seeing him as the introverted kid he describes himself as on a windy path just like a lot of people we are likely to already know in our own lives.
You do not hear the questions being asked, you only hear Mike. In his words, and you listen and hear a truth about Mike you haven’t heard from him before. Gone is the fear in the words that sometimes had no meaning and were only said to entice fear in his opponents whether they be in or outside the ring. Gone are the attempts of his ego trying to win another battle, for fear of loss is the worst fear of them all especially for a competitor such as Iron Mike. What is left is just Mike and a look back at one of the greatest boxers that we will ever know.
This film will remind you of why he became so feared in the ring at such an early age. Watching the clips from those fights you see the intensity in his eyes when he walks to the ring. He walks with purpose and electrifies audiences just by entering it. Every fight is the culmination of years of training with one of the most skilled boxing minds in the game, Cus D’Amato. He was the man Mike describes as one of the only persons he ever trusted, raising him from the age of twelve to become a defensive master who would bob and weave and lean and punch in combinations that nobody had ever seen before. Power punches with remarkable speed that came from places they shouldn’t, and with accuracy and precision that only years of training could provide. Kid Dynamite, as he was first nicknamed, was the post-Muhammad Ali fighter the world dreamed of.
This film will challenge what you think you know about Mike. You will need to let go of what you have seen in the media during some of that time. In today’s social media, truth is as prevalent as ever, and this will be one truth you will never forget as Mike takes you within and bears it all for the world to see.
Do some people still long for Iron Mike? The adored God of the ring who couldn’t be stopped; who travelled all over the world, and was greeted by millions of adoring fans wherever he went? If I want to re-live Iron Mike, I’ll pop in my copy of Fight Night Round 4 when it comes out and watch old fights on youtube.
I now understand that for Mike, it isn’t about going back, it’s about moving forward and accepting everything he’s done, without any need to ask for forgiveness. As one of the most influential beings on this planet, when he does this, just as we followed him in his boxing career, we will follow him in his film career and, forgive him anyway, because he’s only a man who is not anymore a God than you or I am.
And I don’t believe that is taking anything away from him at all. He talked afterwards that he’s still in awe of how people are responding to the film and how he’s not used to not having to train hard for this type of approval that he would normally receive from winning a fight. Here he was, letting it all hang out, take it or leave it, and people were accepting it. People were looking beyond it and accepting him.
The question was asked from the audience of what he would do now. He mentioned he is working with Jamie Foxx on a feature movie on his life. After watching the documentary about it, I am intrigued how Foxx will portray Tyson as I’m sure this film will have much influence on the making of that one.
In the end, I learned more about Mike than I ever thought I knew about him. I was always a fan since the first time my father and I watched him KO Michael Spinks in 1988. And now, I’ve gained a level of respect for the man after what I’ve seen of him in this film.
He is one of the most influential people in the world today.
POSTED:
Apr 20 2009, 11:45 AM
So I'm a few hours from the premiere screening of the TYSON documentary and last night I was walking around Time Square and the downtown area to just get some thoughts from some people I bumped into and asked the question, "If we put Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali in the ring in their primes, who would win?"
Just for the record, though I say a couple of punches, in detail I think Tyson would win the fight if we're talking about Tyson right before he won his first heavyweight belt when he was big-time in his classic bob-and-weave style that Cus trained him so well to use during the string of over 20 fights in 18 months before winning that championship. The more I watch Tyson during those matches, the more I see how punishing and fearless he was when when he went after people. I would pick Tyson in a KO in 4.
I know I'll get heat for saying so, but man, he's one tough SOB.
POSTED:
Apr 19 2009, 10:38 PM
TYSON Trailer
I
just got off a plane and am in New York for the first time and excited
not only because I’ve never visited the Big Apple, but also because of
the special event that I’ve been invited to attend this Monday night.
EA SPORTS is proud to sponsor the premiere screening of the Sony Pictures Classics’ TYSON,
a James Toback film looking at the roller coaster life of one of the
greatest heavyweight boxers of our generation. A few weeks ago I was
asked to see if I would be interested in blogging and covering the
event and, along with Fight Night Round 4 producer Brian Hayes and EA
SPORTS forums moderators Demetrius (Poetic) Egerton and Robert
(wepeeler) Smith, I enthusiastically jumped at an opportunity of a
lifetime to walk down the red-carpet on Broadway at the AMC Loews
Cinemas among a star-studded invite-list including Joe Frazier, Al
Sharpton, NAS, Moby, Christopher Walken, LL Cool J, Harvey Keitel,
Commissioner Ray Kelly, Rosie Perez and many others.
James Toback and Mike Tyson have been on a whirlwind tour which
began last summer at the Cannes Film festival where the film was first
viewed. After the screening, both appeared on stage and received a standing ovation from the crowd,
and a humbled Tyson spoke of his gratitude for this film and to those
that helped create it along with his appreciation to the crowd for
their heart-felt acceptance of the documentary.
It’s a far-cry from what we’ve come to expect from the off-spoken
pugilist whose life brought about fear for his opponents inside the
ring, fear for people outside it in the public eye, and as seen in some
of the previews of the film, a personal fear that he seems now to be
learning to understand, appreciate, and, ultimately, control. It’s a
film that I’ve been anticipating seeing for quite some time and to have
the chance to view it with him in the crowd along with very special
guests will be quite the honor.
Hosting the event with Tyson and Toback will be director Bennett Miller, and acclaimed boxing journalists Joyce Carol Oates and Gay Talese.
I’ve read a few of Oates articles following Tyson’s career from his
first world championship victory over Trevor Burbick in November 22,
1986 to his fall from grace in the mid to late ‘90s. Her views on the
sports and Tyson in particular go deep into the heart of the sport and
more so into the psyche of a boxer that rarely gave interviews to
female reporters. Gay Talese’s penchant for writing about the underdog
pushed his articles on the sport back in the 60’s to the forefront, as
the sport once dominated and revered by white people, began to see the
minority black people at the top of the ranks. These athletes have
definitely helped paved the way for many other minority boxers who have
broken racial barriers including the influx of Hispanic and European
fighters as well as one of the top pound-for-pound boxer today, and my
personal favorite from my home country in the Philippines, Manny
Pacquiao.
Make no bones about it, boxing is a brutal sport. It cuts to the
heart of our society and continues to be challenged by those less
understanding of the instinctual battle between man and foe. Oates put
it best when she described the sport in Kid Dynamite: Mike Tyson is the most exciting heavyweight fighter since Muhammad Ali:
“(Boxing) is the quintessential image of human struggle, masculine
or otherwise, against not only other people but one's own divided self.
Its kinship with Roman gladiatorial combat—in which defeated men
usually died—is not historically accurate but poetically relevant.” I
know Poetic will appreciate me waxing it old skool here.
Anyway, I’m hoping to get a chance to post some video and pictures
from the red-carpet and get some reaction from some of the guests in
attendance though being a guest myself, I’m very much looking forward
to enjoying the screening and the reception to follow. I’m told I
would be lucky to get some time with Tyson as he’ll be fairly busy with
his more esteemed guests in attendance which I can totally appreciate.
For us boxing fans and gamers in attendance, it’s going to be an unreal
experience that we’ll be buzzing about for the rest of our lives.