Brutally honest, if not a little crazy.

I just got finished watching the documentary on former Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson and I have to say it really provided a lot of insight. Mike Tyson is one of, if not the most honest fighter I've ever seen. The fight game is honest, it not only requires honesty, it demands honesty. If you're fighting someone who has more power than you, you must be honest and recognize he has more power than you and plan accordingly. Mike is honest, he spoke about his fears, saying 'when I was in the locker room I was scared, but as I got closer and closer to the ring I got less and less scared,' he spoke about his relationship with Cus D'Amato, stating that it was like a father son relationship. I think his combination of honesty and dedication, not only to the sport, but to his trainer, was a huge factor for success. He said Cus D'Amato's word was like the bible when it came to boxing.

The documentary also gave some insight into the training techniques of Cus D'Amato. Mike said that he wasn't even allowed to box for the first two weeks because Cus D'Amato would talk to him about strategies and the psychology of boxing, training him in the art of psychological warefare. In the documentary it showed him getting into the ring and working a technique. He said he would stare at his opponent with a scowl on his face and the opponent would stare back at them. It showed the opponents eyes adverting for a split second and Mike said 'once he looks away I know I've got him, that is the chink in his armor, he lost the fight before it began, some people loose the fight in the locker room but this guy lost the fight right when he looked away'. It's also interesting to note that Mike said he was on the decline when he started losing his 'mental' and 'spiritual' edge. It had nothing to do with power! Boxing is spiritual! Cus D'Amato would tell Mike.

The dvd also confirmed a lot of the reasons why I thought Mike started to decline. The first blow was the death of his trainer, Cus D'Amato, the 2nd blow was both his marriage and divorce to Robin Givens, the 3rd blow was his rape charge, all the while engaging in sexual promiscuity and allowing people to leach off of him. Mike described his sexual promiscuity as 'they would take from me and I would never receive anything back' and he described his leeching as 'I hung around a lot of leeches, but in a way I liked it, I liked having them suck my blood, then I would go out and buy my blood back with my money.' In the end, the most remarkable thing about Mike is his ironic conclusion in the sport of Boxing, as he fell victim to a tragedy described by none other than Cus D'Amato himself.

"To see a man beaten not by a better opponent but by himself is a tragedy."
- Cus D'Amato.