Former heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson announced on Monday that his one-man show "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth" will run from July 31 to Aug. 5 at the Longacre Theatre in New York.
The show, which is a raw confession of his life, debuted earlier this year at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The six-night long performance will be presented by ace director Spike Lee. This will mark Lee's debut as a Broadway director.
"I'm very vulnerable and I'm just telling you who I am and where I'm from and how this happened," Tyson revealed to The Province at a news conference at the Longacre, dressed impressively in white pants, a white shirt and a grey jacket.
Tyson became the youngest-ever heavyweight champion in 1986, when he won his title as a 20-year-old. His life however has not been a bed of roses since then. A three-year long term in prison for rape accusation against a beauty pageant contestant in Indiana, drug possession and repeated divorce have kept him in the media limelight for all the wrong reasons.
In 1990, he was defeated by James Douglas in one of the biggest surprises in boxing history. His unacceptable behavioral patterns reached a height when he bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear during a boxing match. Reportedly he also threatened to eat the children of heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, one of such bizarre occasion.
But Lee has full faith that the show will be successful as there is a vulnerable side to Tyson's life, which needs to be showcased.
Lee, the director behind films as "Do the Right Thing," ''Malcolm X" and "Inside Man," told The Province that he saw a DVD recording of Tyson's show in Las Vegas and immediately signed him up. Tyson's previous acting experience equates to playing himself in the film The Hangover and a few comedy characters.
According to The Guardian, Tyson told journalists at a press conference in New York: "I played Iron Mike Tyson. I'm a great actor."
The show is supposed to run through Tyson's life story, from his birth in Brooklyn to a mother who was a prostitute and a father he believed was a pimp, although he has reportedly admitted that till date he is not sure who his real father is.
Tyson was a tough criminal by the time his mother died when he was 16.
It was then that life took an unpredictable turn and his boxing mentor, Cus d'Amato, helped him turn his back on crime and gave directions to his awesome fighting talent.
"It's a great story and he tells it masterfully," Lee told The Guardian, "He's lifted himself off the canvas."
Tickets for Tyson's show are priced $75 to $199, with VIP tickets to be sold at $300.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
