Reg Gutteridge - Mike Tyson: The Release of Power

This book is dedicated to the memory of the
Gutteridge Twins who taught Reg left from right;
and to George Giller who taught Norman
right from wrong.

MIKE TYSON

The Release of Power

The Release of Power

REG GUTTERIDGE OBE
and Norman Giller

RETRO CLASSICS

RETRO CLASSICS
is a collection of facsimile reproductions

of popular bestsellers from the 1980s and 1990s

Mike Tyson: The Release of Power was first published in 1995
by Queen Anne Press

Re-issued in 2012 as a Retro Classic

by G2 Rights

in association with Lennard Publishing

Windmill Cottage

Mackerye End

Harpenden

Hertfordshire

AL5 5DR

Copyright Reg Gutteridge and Normal Giller 1995

ISBN 978-1-909040-24-3

Cover design: Paul Cooper

Cover photographs: (front) Colorsport, (back) Mike Brennan, Scope Features.

Colour photographs: Mike Brennan, Scope Features

Editor: Alison Bravington

Assistant editor: Roy Mathers

Typesetting and design: Norman Giller Enterprises

Origination: Leaside Graphics

This book is a facsimile reproduction of the first edition of
Mike Tyson: The Release of Power which was a bestseller in 1995.

No attempt has been made to alter any of the wording
with the benefit of hindsight, or to update the book in any way.

Nobody can visit the life and times of Mike Tyson without leaning heavily on the help and advice of those closest to him. Cus D'Amato and Jim Jacobs, both sadly now departed, were a constant source of information and inspiration; our thanks to Bill Cayton, Don King, Kevin Rooney, Teddy Atlas, Jos Torres, Bobby Stewart and a procession of good pals on the American boxing beat who passed on facts and whispers; particular thanks to the omnipotent Nigel Collins, Bristol-born Managing Editor of The Ring, who kindly allowed us to quote from his fascinating one-on-one prison interview with Tyson. Thanks, too, to Harry Mullan, Editor of Boxing News, for producing a magazine that is invaluable for anybody wanting to know the exact facts of what goes on in the fight game. Previous books on Tyson, and in particular For Whom the Bell Tolls and Tyson by Peter Heller were excellent points of reference, as was the controversial biography by Jos Torres. Publisher Adrian Stephenson, of Queen Anne Press, also has the gratitude of the authors. Without his support and encouragement this book would never have reached your hands. There will never be another quite like Mike Tyson. The man is unique. Read and enjoy.

M Y co-author Norman Giller and I were introduced to a new sport some 15 years ago: Tyson Watching. Cus DAmato, a legendary character in boxing who had guided Floyd Patterson to the world heavyweight title, told us in his Bronx drawl: Ive got a kid whos going to take over from Floyd Patterson as the youngest world heavyweight champion of all time. Note the name. Its Mike Tyson. Watch out for him. Tyson was then barely 14 years old.

So we started watching, first with casual interest and then with fascination followed by excitement as he began to develop into an extraordinary fighting machine. What we did not realise is that our Tyson Watching would turn into a frightening, stomach-churning experience. Suddenly it was like watching a runaway truck, and there was nothing we could do to stop it. Many of us in boxing wanted to reach out and help him, but he was a law to himself and always had a finger on the self-destruct button.

We we shall use the royal we throughout the book knew that Tyson was on a crash course with disaster early on in his career. The village world of boxing was alive with gossip, rumour and innuendo about his sexual practices. He was continually getting into trouble with girls, stories that were stifled by people protecting him and the millions of dollars he promised to earn with his brutal fists.

Hush money was paid to keep girls and at least one mother quiet. Too much was riding on Tysons broad shoulders to allow him literally to screw the well-laid plans for him to rule the worlds heavyweights. His co-manager Jim Jacobs, sadly no longer with us, confided: Mike is a highly-sexed guy. He does everything with high energy, and one of the reasons we like to keep him busy in the ring and the gym is that it burns off that desire to go out and get laid.

Cus DAmato and Jim Jacobs were the men who did most to protect Tyson. When they both died he was suddenly left without cover and without control. The rape case that ended with his being sentenced to prison for six years was a disaster just waiting to happen.

Tyson has been a prisoner for years. A prisoner of his past.

As experienced Tyson Watchers, we knew that he was not going to be able to escape from his ghetto grounding. You can take the man out of the ghetto, but you cannot take the ghetto out of the man. Never has the old saying been more sadly proved than by Michael Gerard Tyson. He had been taught from an early age that this was a cruel world in which you have to snatch what you want because nobody would give you a thing. If you walk round the mean back streets of Brooklyn where he grew up, as we have, you will realise that you need an animal instinct to survive. And it was the animal in him the one we applaud in the ring that got him locked away for three years.

This is Tyson Revisited for Norman and me. We were his first biographers just a month or two after he became the worlds youngest heavyweight champion at the age of 20 years, four months and 22 days. So much has happened to him since that it cried out for another book to record the life and times of one of the most extraordinary sportsmen of the century. We have great affection for Tyson, and consider him right up there with the immortals of the ring. Thats Tyson the Fighter. Tyson the Man is such a cocktail of a character that nobody knows which of his many personalities will surface now that he been released from prison to continue his one-man war on the worlds heavyweights.

In the following pages we will introduce you to Tyson the Man and Tyson the Fighter. Even if you dont like boxing, you will find this a fascinating study of what happens when a ghetto boy suddenly becomes one of the most famous and fted people in the world.

We want him to be a kingly beast in the ring and a pussycat outside. But it doesnt work out like that. Not when youre Mike Tyson and you have been down in the gutter. Here he comes now, warts n all.

1: A Walking Time-bomb

M IKE Tyson planned a $250 million smash-and-grab raid while incarcerated in prison for a rape that he still contends he did not commit. He had an ex-convict in the mountainous shape of boxing promoter Don King as his accomplice as he plotted a comeback to the ring that could, once again, make him the richest sportsman in history.