Customer Reviews

Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

'Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story' is an enthralling account of the boxer's rise and fall. Peter Niels Heller's assiduous scholarship and precise analyses combine to create a portrait that is both compelling and frightening. Drawn into professional boxing at the age of 19, Tyson quickly established himself as the boxer to beat. No-one could. Ultimately, he defeated himself, being sentenced to six years in prison in 1992. However, rather than surrender to the nihilism of incarceration, Tyson fought back. As Heller says on page 126, 'He was on his personal canvas, the Celestial Referee was about to count 9, and then it happened; Tyson stood up, bowed but unbeaten. With renewed energy, he determined that he would change; become a better person. The miracle had begun, and within a month he was working on a lathe in the carpentry shop, turning himself into a model prisoner first, a fruit bowl second and finally an elaborate rocking horse. So impressed were the authorities that they gave the boxer early release and a free white ant inspection.'

These days, Tyson continues to be an ornament, proudly positioned on Don King's mantlepiece.

You Must Throw Every Punch With Bad Intentions

4.75 Stars

Bad Intentions - more than just a title - it's a D'Amato philosophy.

A great quote from Cus D'Amato that stuck with throughout the book and after:

"No matter what anyone says, no matter the excuse or explanation, whatever a person does in the end is what he intended to do all along."

Really a fantastic book from the beginning - Tyson as a kid - Cus & The Kid all the way to where it ends - the rape trial and conviction. This is a great read and an attention-grabbing perspective on Tyson and those around him.

You get a deeper look at and much needed tour of D'Amato, Jacobs, Cayton, Rooney and the entire original Team Tyson line up - I can't help but wish that Mike stayed with them. These people really seemed to have his best interest in mind and truly loved him.

My one complaint is Heller's take on the rape trial - I felt he did a horrible job with the review of details and happenings - to say that Tyson's lawyer was of the same caliber of Clarence Darrow - PLEASE - the guy was Don Kings TAX attorney - he had no business defending Tyson - there were witnesses not allowed to testify, his strategy was ridiculous and there are other issues that I just wont include in this review...

I recommend this book and once I finished I wish there was more. I found it complete (for the time it covered), thorough and mostly accurate (except the trial/conviction) - it's one of those books where you feel part of the story.

Both the Tyson fan and non-fan can enjoy this book.

Bar none, this is the best book I've read about Tyson. It's full of facts and direct quotes from loads of people who worked with/against Tyson, as well as the man himself. It's also a great book for someone like myself- a fan who loved Tyson the boxer but always found Tyson the man to be a jerk, albeit a sometimes misunderstood one.

This book traces Tyson's history from his reckless juvenile days in the streets and the Tryon home for outcast boys, all the way up to Don King, Robin Givens, and his rape conviction. There's a subsequent update chapter that describes the goings-on after his release, but this is just a few pages long and stops before his first post-jail fight with Peter McNeely. It's interesting, but it's very short. Fortunately the book itself is a meaty several hundred pages.

Its outdatedness is the only real problem with the book. Originally written in the mid 90s, it describes everything up to his rape conviction in great detail. It reads like a page-turning novel, a tale full of treachery and corruption - the honing of a wayward youth into a disciplined fighter and his subsequent recidivism. The book is completely objective, as well. It shows us the sweet side of Tyson, and makes no bones about the fact that he had one. But it's also crystal clear that he was a beast, giving us many examples of Tyson's primitive and criminal behavior. Beloved trainer Cus D'Amoto isn't safe either, for there's evidence in this book (which I'd never seen before) that shows he wasn't just a sweet old man who took Tyson in and raised him as his own.

But in addition to discussing main characters like these, people like Robin Givens and Don King are discussed in great length as well. They emerge as the real villains of the story, as well they should. Everyone knows how badly they affected Tyson's career, and the book traces all the details of how and why. In fact, King has his own lengthy chapter, giving us a full portrait of the man's history and questionable relationships with countless people on his way to Tyson -that's how thorough this book is.

Long story short, it's a shame that this book doesn't continue past Tyson's imprisonment and brief release, because it's a greatly researched, open-minded, passionate and thorough account of Tyson's career as well as boxing itself and loads of the people on Tyson's periphery. Loaded with insight from other boxers, scholars of the sport, and many (like Teddy Atlas) who worked with Tyson himself, it's a very broad offering of information. Pick it up whether you like the man OR hate him, it's a fascinating read.

Mike Tyson is so fundamentally interesting that any book about him that even states the facts is going to be fascinating. The book does a good job of describing the boxing scene at the time of and the complexity of the figures surrounding Tyson's early life. Tyson is a paradox. He was sensitive and loved his pigeons, bullied as a child for his lisp, but then grew to be a violent criminal by age 10. He is at times intelligent, articulate, victimized, but acts crazily, ruled by his emotions, and often doesn't hesitate to abuse others. D'Amato is both Tyson's rescuer and exploiter, a paradox of a person himself, both idealistic and seemingly selfless but also with tunnel vision in regard to his priorities. This book recounts what happens to a person who becomes totally unbalanced: #1 in the world at such a young age (few can understand what it's like to be #1 in the world at anything, not to mention such a public and violent sport as boxing) but immature and unstable in so many other aspects of his personality and ability. Tyson's mentors emphasized his strengths but his weaknesses were ignored so that they ultimately destroyed him. His relationships with women, especially his wife Givens, depicts a man who starved for love but who doesn't know how to show it or recognize it- he gives Givens everything and allows her to control his life and money but cannot stop cheating on her and can't see that she's using him. Maybe all his relationships had been exploitive for so long he viewed use as part of love. A few good people around him try to guide him but they can't rescue or control someone so imbalanced. The portrayals of the people surrounding Tyson are thorough and fascinating and I end up feeling sorry for everyone in this whole book. It's weird to feel pity for someone who rapes various people at the age of 14 (Tyson) or a power hungry woman with a dominating mother (Givens) but learning about their lives makes me feel so lucky I'm not in that arena. Many injustices occur and it seems like the truly good or bad people never get what they deserve. This book increased my understanding of boxing, contained complex portrayals and histories of the key people, and left me in awe of Tyson's skills, especially in contrast to the extent of his terrible, pathetic weaknesses and flaws. The book ends before the 2nd half of Tyson's life starts, before he becomes a vegan etc. Tyson's story is still not over. His life seems filled with endless pain, tragic because he's extremely lucky compared to people born in his position without his talents. Thus despite all the horrible things he's done, I hope that he can become a good, happy person.

This book gets five stars alone for the great investigative journalism and stop-at-no-ends-to-get-the-truth reporting.

This kind of writing is getting rarer and rarer given sooo many writers -- especially of sports book -- come with a slant that once you get beyond it's timeliness, really paints the author in a worse light than the subject/team/issue they wrote about.

This is by far and away one of the best books I've read in a long, long time.

Mike Tyson as ... mindless brute to be feared? con artist too smart for his own good? endlessly incredible athlete to be respected? menace to be locked away? and self-destructive, innocent manchild predestined to failure?

These are all concepts that are explored and in depth in this book.

I honestly can see all of the aforementioned perspectives!!!!!

It's interesting but the writer supports each of these ideas enough that you really can't automatically tell just from reading this book what opinions/conclusions the writer actually reached on a personal level -- and this book is all the better for it.

Mike was one of the most physically awesome athletes of the 20th Century and he also said/did some disgraceful things.

Mike is yet another pro athlete that fell victim to all the vulptures who saw him and used him as a meal ticket.

And he's also on woeful little boy who grew into a man who acted out his childhood traumas.

All in all, is he a hero or a monster? A man who just didn't take responsibility for his actions or someone to be pitied because of his (inherent?) personal inability to do so?

You have to read this book and THEN make the call. It's not as easy as you might think.

Peter Heller digs into the crats to get the truth of Iron Mike. The book is a excellent step by step guideline to Tyson's rollercoaster life.

Excellent insights; especially into the behind the scenes elements in Tyson's life - or lack thereof. The darkness of Boxing is exposed by the accounts of the deals made without the neccessity of finding smoke-filled rooms.
While you may find it hard to pity Tyson of today; it's easier to understand the path he's taken after the reading of this book.

This book is excellent for anyone who wants to understand where mike tyson came from and the sort of influences that made him what he was and what he is now. Heller is an excellent writer and it is by no means a slow read. To anyone who is involved in any martial art or combat sport it is pure inspiration describing a boys detirmination to become on of the greatest fighters of all time.

Buy this book read & see why Mike Tyson was the greatest Boxing Champion ever.
Tyson will always Rule!