2009 AFI Dallas Film Festival - Tyson

(USA, 2008, 90 mins)
35mm
Directed By: James Toback

James Toback takes on one of the most brutal and most amazing stories in sports, the life of former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.

Through interviews with the retired boxer, who won nearly 20 professional fights by knockout—13 of them in the first round—the director traces a career that was as full of accolades as tragedies. In the 1980s Tyson unified the professional heavyweight title and remained undisputed champion for more than two years. He electrified the sport with his powerful punches and celebrity misbehavior. Troback follows the fighter from his time as a 14-year-old juvenile delinquent to his rise at 20 to the youngest heavyweight champion ever. The film covers the boxer’s unsuccessful marriage to Robin Givens, his rape conviction and his 1997 title rematch against Evander Holyfied during which he bit off a part of Holyfield’s ear.

With Tyson Toback has managed to reveal one of sport’s most infamous, confounding and fascinating characters.

Information from the festival's website