Customer Reviews

Ringside - The Best of Mike Tyson

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a four and half hour documentary of the prime years of Mike Tyson. You are ringside for 19 of Mike Tyson's early fights, plus highlights of other matches. Watch him blast out a select group of tomato cans, as well as his most satisfying victories over top flight competition such as Larry Holmes and Frank Bruno.

Bert Randolph Sugar, Teddy Atlas, George Chuvalo, Michael Moorer, and the aforementioned Holmes provide expert commentary on the fights and times of Mike Tyson.

Teddy Atlas ran the gym that Tyson trained at during his formative years, and he gives some fascinating insights into Mike's personal life and how Cus often allowed Tyson to get away with misbehavior on account of his great talent. He seems to have a better understanding of what makes Mike tick than anyone else.

It is a pleasure to own Tyson's complete fights against Berbick, Holmes, Bruno, Ferguson, and Douglas, though one may wish the set included footage of his bouts with Biggs and Pinklon Thomas and Tony Tucker.

But it is hard to argue with what is here and it makes you hope that the other ESPN Ringside telecasts will be released, particularly the two Muhammad Ali documentaries.

There are also two bonus features, a series of interviews that were conducted with Tyson through the years and a short film on the making of ESPN Ringside. This release is well worth the money for Tyson fans.

This DVD comes from an ESPN Classics 6 hour television show! It starts at the beginning and goes through his early career fight-by-fight. The fights are shown in their entirety (though obviously much is cut out--it goes straight to the bell and without any corner talk, just bell, ding, bell, ko). I also didn't realize Michael Buffer was still shouting his trademark saying back in 1985! A good add to any Tyson fan's collection. The only problem with this video is that it comes from the TV show--and ESPN actually shows a 'coming up' right up to the point where the commercials would roll. That wouldn't necessarily be a problem, but for some reason ESPN felt it was important to show you the most exciting parts of the next 20 minutes--the knockout punches, the bloodied opponents, the referee making the 10-count! So remember, when it cut's to the 'coming up' part, cover your eyes and lower the volume!

I purchased this dvd because I love to see Mike Tyson box when he was in his ferocious, primal youth. This dvd has 19 of his fights in their entirety from his pro debut to his knockout by Buster Douglas! Absolutely amazing stuff! I love boxing dvds and this one would rank up there with my all time favorite boxing dvd "Muhammad Ali -The Whole Story" which incidentally is out of print. So, get this dvd and add it to your collection! You will not regret buying "The Best of Mike Tyson"! The picture quality is great, the commentary by the analysts is great! Hopefully, ESPN Classics will release a part-two of this set with his fights with Holyfield!

Tyson was arguably the most feared boxer in the world during his reign of terror that was being followed throughout this DVD.

It takes you from his early beginnings, to his steady rise to fame, and the pinnacle of his success. In these fights, you see why Iron Mike Tyson was renowned by boxing fans, and sports fans in general. His speed, elusiveness resulting from his 'peek-a-boo' style, and his devastating punches made opposing boxers minor road bumps on his fast track to stardom.

In between these fights is commentary from Teddy Atlas (formerly Tyson's trainer), who provides an in-depth look at Tyson's earlier career, and what really made him tick. And, of course, Bert Sugar gives valuable insight, as well.

For any boxing fan who wants to re-live Tyson's reign of terror, or young boxing fans looking to watch one of the greats of the sport for the first time - this particular DVD should satisfy.

To get the obvious out of the way, this is a fabulous DVD set. Buy it right now if you are a fan of Tyson, or even a fan of boxing in general.

DVD has needed to get into boxing career complilations for a long time now, and hopefully this sells well enough to send a message that boxing fans need more DVD sets like this one. I, and boxing friends as well, have been clamoring for this kind of collection for a long time. There is a huge market for bootleg DVD boxing careers, and as such some officially released material is sorely needed. DVD is a fantastic format for this.

Support boxing compilations and buy this DVD set!

A great compilation of Tyson's early years and
his proffesional debut as the youngest heavyweight
champion in history. There are some great stories
by Teddy Atlas accompanied by the host and Burt Sugar
(whom really sits there doing nothing but twiddling
that unlit cigar of his). Teddy on the other hand
has great boxing insight and is quite eloquent about
Tyson and boxing in general. As they speak about Tyson we
get to see old photos of the knockout king and his old
trainer/surrogate father Cus Demato.

The quality is surprisingly crisp in some of the
older fights, but due to the age some fights are
still slightly grainy at times, but this is really
a minor complaint. The sound is also surprisingly done
well.

I couldn't finish these DVD's in one sitting, but
actually three, for there is more Tyson than one
can handle in one sitting. The knockouts are pretty
vicious and will at times have you hitting the rewind
button. It is interesting to see the young, quick,
devastating champ slowly lose his skills as he nears
his memorable yet controversial loss to Buster Douglas.
It seems his quick KO's early in his career hindered
him from gaining better ring experience and the know-how
in dealing with superior boxers.

One reviewer complained about the "Coming up next..."
commercial breaks which they kept in, and I
definitely agree that it is redundant and bothersome.

One of the major highlights is the 45 minutes worth
of interviews with Tyson from his early days and a few
more recent interviews where he has his facial tattoo.
It's interesting to hear the thoughts of this emotional,
brutally honest man whom dispels the image of an out
of control madman seeking to bite his next piece of
human flesh.

I've rated this 5 stars because as a Tyson collection
it touches on everything one would want to see regarding
the former heavyweight champ in his prime.

I'm a collector of classic sporting events, so this DVD set to me is a no-brainer... 20 bucks for many of Tyson's fights through the Buster Douglas match. I only gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because they talk over the first round of the Douglas fight. If I didn't own a recording of that fight already, I'd be pretty pissed about that one thing.

Here's the list of fights on the set:

Mike Tyson vs. Ricky Spain
Mike Tyson vs. John Alderson
Mike Tyson vs. Michael Johnson
Mike Tyson vs. Donnie Long
Mike Tyson vs. Robert Colay
Mike Tyson vs. Sterling Benjamin
Mike Tyson vs. Richardson
Mike Tyson vs. Sammy Scaff
Mike Tyson vs. Mike Young
Mike Tyson vs. Mike Jameson
Mike Tyson vs. Jesse Ferguson
Mike Tyson vs. Steve Zouski
Mike Tyson vs. James Tillis


Mike Tyson vs. Trevor Berbick
Mike Tyson vs. Larry Holmes
Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks
Mike Tyson vs. Frank Bruno
Mike Tyson vs. James "Buster" Douglas

This dvd is for adrenaline junkies. You are on the edge of your seat, waiting for a huge Tyson knockout punch every fight. It has 19 fights, the actual fights, and is nice to have if you have nothing to do for a day.

Personally, I was excited to hear about a Mike Tyson compilation. Even better that it was done by ESPN. Now, it is a great collection of his fights, don't get me wrong. I love seeing Mike rise from his first pro-bout to winning the WBC belt. But, as the back says, there are only 19 fights out of his 37-0 before losing to Buster. A good amount of them were first-rounders, but I would have still liked to have seen them. Like, the Mitch Green fight, Reggie Gross, etc... even though I have seen them before. I would have also liked if they had had his post-Buster fights (McNelley, Ruddock, etc...) But, I digress. This is a good compilation, don't be sidetracked with what it doesn't have, but rather what it does. And even though it lacks in some parts, I am a sucker for Tyson.

This is a MUST OWN for any Tyson fan. We are talking over 5 hours of Mike Tyson footage on TWO dvds! Not only that, but bonus interviews from past ESPN Tyson segments. AMAZING. You also get these fights in their entirety, no editing at all. The picture quality is amazing as well. This is my favorite Tyson dvd I own.