Mike Tyson (Text Only Edition)
Originally published in 1992 and now available as an ebook.This biography of the now-notorious Tyson is a compelling exposé of secrets, misconceptions, hype, greed – and racism.Montieth Illingworth presents an intensely researched portrait of the man and the boxer. Having known him well since 1989, Illingworth gained a unique insight into Tyson’s thoughts and feelings on a wide variety of subjects: his relationship with his guardian and trainer Cus D’Amato; the emotional impact of his stormy marriage to Robin Givens; his adventures with Donald Trump; his trust in promoter Don King; and his struggles with the burden and trappings of celebrity.Featuring a full appraisal of his extraordinary trial and conviction of rape – this is a book that intrigues and shocks from beginning to end.
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Fourth Estate
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London SE1 9GF
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 1992
First published by Birch Lane Press 1991
Copyright © Monteith M. Illingworth 1991
Monteith Illingworth asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780586216781
Ebook Edition © MAY 2016 ISBN: 9780008193355
Version: 2016-05-13
For Crystal, the love of my life
“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination—indeed, everything and anything except me.”
* * *
“You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you’re part of all the sound and anguish and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it’s seldom successful.”
—Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Contents
Not much is known about Lorna Tyson. She was born Loma Smith in 1930, probably in the South. Like so many other blacks after World War II, she migrated north in search of work and more social freedoms. There is no account of her keeping in touch with or ever seeing her parents, siblings, or any other relatives. Mike Tyson had no recollection of such extended family on his mother’s side. He has described Lorna as around five-foot-six with a big, sturdy frame. She had medium-brown skin and dull-gray hair that waved back from her wide face. She wore glasses and had an air of quiet dignity.
At some point during her first years in Brooklyn, New York, she married Percel Tyson, of whom nothing is known. They later divorced. Lorna never remarried. She did fall in love, with Jimmy Kirkpatrick, a heavyset, boisterous roustabout who drove big cars, worked menial construction jobs, and dreamed of owning his own business. Kirkpatrick had sixteen children when he moved in, all of them living with their various mothers. He fathered three more with Lorna. The first was a boy, Rodney, born in 1961. Next came Denise in 1964. Two years later, well into Lorna’s third pregnancy, Kirkpatrick moved out. On June 30, 1966, in Cumberland Hospital, Michael Gerard Tyson was born.
Without the help of Kirkpatrick’s occasional paycheck, Lorna struggled. She worked off and on, once as a nurse’s aide, but made barely enough money to support her family. Another boyfriend, Edward Gillison, moved in. He contributed little. By the time Michael was eight years old, the Tysons had moved four times within Brooklyn. Each move took them deeper into poverty. His last home with Lorna was 178 Amboy Street, Apartment 2A, in the heart of Brownsville, Brooklyn’s most destitute section.
The Tyson family lived in perpetual crisis. Lorna began to drink. She and Gillison argued constantly, and when they fought, Lorna took the worst of it, until one day, while boiling water, she chased Gillison around the apartment and seared him. In between jobs she went on welfare. When the heating bill couldn’t be paid, they all slept in their clothes. Tyson put cardboard in his shoes to cover up the holes. Food was scarce. Meals at times were made of flour and water.
Even genetics seemed to conspire against the family. By the time Rodney was twelve, he weighed a blubbery 280 pounds. Denise also tended to put on weight. They all suffered, but it seemed that the youngest boy suffered most. “Big Head Mike,” as he was known to neighbors in the building, was ridiculed for every little oddity of appearance and character. On the streets, because of his lisp, the other children called Tyson “Little Fairy Boy.” He was bigger than most other children his age, but intensely passive. They beat him up for the lisp, for his shoes, and for whatever he had in his pocket. He wore glasses briefly, and they beat him up for that. Tyson became increasingly withdrawn around other children, and that earned more beatings.
