Iron Mike Tyson never got full credit for his hand and foot speed in his younger days in the ring.
Despite his blazing punches and nimble feet, Tyson was somewhat miscast as a mechanical KO puncher when he was so much more. When he was making formidable foes such as Trevor Berbick wobble like the town drunk, most spoke only of Tyson’s fearsome power and not his agility. View slideshow: Iron Mike Tyson: I will conquer Broadway stage like I conquered boxing rings
Besides, world heavyweight champion predecessor Muhammad Ali was the icon who could “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” If Ali hit like a bee, I guess that made Tyson a whole nest of enraged hornets, lol.
I just spoke to old pal Michael Gerard Tyson, of the Amboy Street, Brownsville, Brooklyn Tysons, only hours before his official Broadway stage performance Tuesday night at the Longacre Theatre.
(I told Tyson I wished him, in the Broadway good luck tradtion, “to break a leg” and he laughed.)
Location: Longacre Theatre 40.760554 ; -73.985877
But Tyson, who turned age 46 on June 30, admitted that “butterflies” are roaming through his digestive system.
I asked if his nerves reminded him of anticipating the exhange of punches with someone like English heavy hitter Frank Bruno.
“I am nervous,” Tyson said. “It is similar to the day of a fight, being in the dressing room. But we’ve got three acts and a bell opens each one, so it’s something familiar to me, hearing that bell and getting busy.”
Although Tyson’s words and not punches come in dramatic bunches, Tyson’s delightful wife, Kiki, said she sees her husband’s nerved up a bit. As a teenager in Philadelphia, she first got to know Mike right before he pummeled Buster Mathis Jr. in that city.
“I think we got out most of our jitters out Monday night,” Kiki said. “We did a full show, a “friends and family” production and it was great. One writer who came and saw it said it gave him goosebumps.”
(Here’s a portion of scribe Tom Mauriello’s rave review on World Boxing Press:
“It was amazing to me seeing him as a gentle, comical storyteller after falling in love with a vicious, unpredictable killer who would knock out his opponents before they knew they were in a fight, and threaten to eat their children. Tyson touches on this in the opening segments and admits that he did not even know how he ended up on the Broadway stage. He also assured everyone in the audience that he could still knock every one of us out in 30 seconds.”)
“We’re ready for tonight, we are,” Tyson said. “Last night was just a smash, like a knockout. I’m treating New York like anyplace else. I am baring my soul up there on that stage. I don’t care or worry about hecklers…I can talk about the rape (conviction in Indiana), about the (Evander Holyfield ear) bite…I can and will talk about anything.”
I asked Tyson what working with fellow Brooklyn guy Lee was like for him.
“There’s a lot of stress involved,” Tyson said, “so working with Spike makes it more fun. I’m just going out there and I’m going to have fun doing it. Nothing is taboo and whatever happens happens.”
I once coined a “No robes, no socks, no mercy” catchphrase for Tyson when I was the p.r. chieftain at Don King Productions. If you did not know, Tyson entered the ring sans robe and hosiery.
It sounds like “Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth” will be performed in a similar, striking way.
I just want to know who the brave man or woman who will risk panning the star of this show.
For sure, it will not be me.
(Tyson will also appear this Sunday at a big national public autograph show in Baltimore with Buster Douglas and many baseball, football and basketball stars of yesteryear.)
PRESS RELEASE AND BOX OFFICE INFO BELOW:
Iron Mike Tyson announced last week that his Vegas act is heading to Broadway. Mike Tyson: UNDISPUTED TRUTH, directed by Spike Lee, will now play Broadway’s Longacre Theatre for 12 performances only, July 31-August 12.
In the show, Tyson “reveals untold stories, peeling back layers of tragedy and public turmoil while unfolding his tale of triumph and survival. In an up-close-and-personal setting featuring images, music and video, Tyson, in an intimate and theatrical setting, will share the stories of his life and experiences as a professional athlete and controversies in and out of the ring.”
The show had been created and produced by Adam Steck, CEO of SPI Entertainment, and was directed by Randy Johnson and written by Kiki Tyson and Randy Johnson.
Emmy Award winning director, producer, writer and actor Spike Lee has been nominated for two Academy Awards. His films include Do The Right Thing and the documentary 4 Little Girls.
Tyson was the undisputed heavyweight champion and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles. He won the WBC title when he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old, after defeating Trevor Berbick by a TKO in the second round. He was the first heavyweight boxer to hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles simultaneously. Tyson is considered to have been one of the better heavyweight boxers of all time. The boxer has starred as himself in such films as The Hangover, Taking on Tyson, Entourage, Brothers, and more.
