He was a champion, a scandal figure, a pop star, and the ultimate bad boy. On his 60th birthday, Mike Tyson shows himself as a man who knows his demons - and no longer runs from them. Today, the once most feared man in the world looks back on his life more calmly and respectfully than ever. A life more spectacular than many Hollywood screenplays.
Absurd Film Parody of His Life
It is one of the most absurd scenes in film history. After a night of partying including a blackout, the three "Hangover" friends return to their luxury suite in Las Vegas. An intruder has made himself at home there: Mike Tyson in the flesh. The boxing legend sits at a grand piano, rises, and imitates the famous drum solo from Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight." He encourages them to sing along: "I've been waiting for this moment for all my life." I've been waiting for this moment all my life. Finally, he unmistakably demands his tiger back, which the three are supposed to have hidden in the suite's bathroom.
The scene from the 2009 blockbuster "Hangover" is cult. The seemingly gentle ex-boxer, who no longer takes himself quite so seriously, has since delighted millions. That the former heavyweight world champion would ever parody his own tough-guy myth seemed more unlikely than a rare big cat in the bathroom until then. Because: Mike Tyson was once not simply a famous athlete. He was an apparition - cool and humorless. He triggered pure fear in many people.
Youngest Boxing World Champion at 20
When Tyson conquers the boxing world in the mid-eighties, he seems like a personified force of nature. At just 20 years old, he becomes the youngest heavyweight world champion in history. His fights are often over faster than TV viewers in front of their television can open their beer. Opponents go down as if hit by a train. Everyone notices: The young man from Brooklyn is different. His brutal success is not based solely on his punching power. He enters the ring without any show. No extravagant robes, no grand gestures. Black pants, black shoes. And the calmer he looks, the more threatening he appears. The public reacts with fascination at the time. Tyson becomes the superstar of an era. He is young, rich overnight, and seems unstoppable. At the same time, it is recognizable that behind the martial facade hides a person shaped by loss, violence, and insecurity.
From Difficult Circumstances to the Top
Mike Tyson grows up in Brooklyn as the son of a single mother in great poverty. His father leaves the family when Mike is two years old. Violence and crime are part of everyday life in his environment. At school, the shy, lisping Mike is often teased. As a teenager, Tyson himself goes astray. The turning point comes when his exceptional boxing talent is discovered in a juvenile detention center of all places. The legendary boxing trainer Cus D'Amato (1908 - 1985) takes him under his wing. He gives Tyson stability, teaches him discipline. After the early death of his mother in 1982, D'Amato becomes Tyson's only anchor point: "He said to me: 'Be careful what you wish for. Your wish might come true'", Tyson said in a 2008 conversation with "Interview" magazine. However, D'Amato does not live to see Tyson's first world championship title in 1986.
"I'm Surprised I'm Still Alive"
After his historic world championship triumph, the world seems open to Mike Tyson. The exceptional boxer dominates the heavyweight division like hardly anyone before him. But the fame is followed by crashes. Substance problems and financial crises repeatedly overshadow his life. Tyson spends three years in prison after being convicted of assault in 1992. The scandal fight of 1997 remains unforgotten. In the middle of the fight, Tyson bites off a piece of his rival Evander Holyfield's (63) right ear. "Iron Mike" no longer seems fascinating, but only eerie.
His Maori-style face tattoo, which becomes his trademark, also contributes to this impression. Tyson keeps Bengal tigers as pets at times. After several comeback attempts, he ends his career with a defeat in 2005. In 2008, he reflects self-critically on the turbulent two decades before: "I didn't realize then what I was getting into. Everything was so overwhelming. I'm surprised that I'm even still alive." But it gets even worse.
"Hangover" as Salvation After Daughter's Death
On May 26, 2009, Tyson's four-year-old daughter Exodus dies in an accident while playing. In an interview about the tragic event, Tyson says: "I wanted to take my gun and go wild." Instead, he administers huge amounts of substances to himself for a week and pushes the pain aside: "I wanted to be high." It's hard to believe that on June 5, 2009 - and thus exactly in the week after his daughter's death - the first part of "Hangover" comes to US cinemas. The film shows him in a previously unknown way. His cameo appearance becomes cult. It flushes urgently needed money into his coffers. And it perhaps saves his life. "I've been waiting for this moment all my life", Tyson sings off-key but with fervor to Phil Collins' voice in the film. How right he was at the time.
"I've Learned to Forgive Myself"
Already in the conversation with "Interview" magazine in 2008, Tyson initiates his transformation from bad to good guy: "I have forgiven myself for all the things I did. If you want to meet love, you have to forgive yourself and start loving yourself." His newfound popularity after the "Hangover" worldwide success is like a rebirth. Only rarely does Tyson venture into the ring for exhibition fights. Instead, he marries his third wife Lakiha Spicer (49) in 2009, builds a career as a cannabis entrepreneur, appears here and there in films and series, and launches his podcast "Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson". With his guests from sports, music, and pop culture, he talks brutally openly about life.
Tyson Has Learned His Lesson
The new "Iron Mike" has humor. Guest appearances on Jimmy Kimmel's Late Night Show are hilariously funny when passersby talk about him before he confronts them personally. When they call his tattoo "ugly" or describe him as a "friendly, pot-smoking grandpa", today's Mike Tyson holds out a winning smile instead of an iron fist. The father of six still can't keep his fingers off legalized substances, as he confesses in May on Jimmy Kimmel. A big party on the occasion of his 60th birthday is not to be expected - quite the opposite of earlier birthday celebrations: "Back then I partied for days."
One of his most quoted sayings also comes from those days: "Everyone has a plan - until they get punched in the face." Theory and planning are important. But reality is unpredictable. Tyson has survived what would have destroyed many people: early fame, unprecedented pressure, crashes, and public dismantling. It seems as if Tyson, 40 years after his first world championship title and countless crash landings later, has learned his lesson.
