@joelkeller Published Oct. 13, 2026, 3:30 p.m. ET See more of our coverage in your search results.
Tyson is a four-part docuseries, directed by Floyd Russ (Bill Simmons is one of the series’ executive producers), where the heavyweight boxing legend sits down to talk at length and very frankly about his fascinating and volatile life. Now 60, the ups and downs of Tyson’s life have been well-documented, as he has been in the public eye since he burst onto the pro boxing scene in 1985, when he was only 19 years old.
Opening Shot: Sun filtering through trees. We see Mike Tyson lying on a rock, eyes closed. In a voiceover, we hear him saying, “When the camera comes on, those demons will appear.”
The Gist: The first episode explores his rough childhood in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where he saw nothing but violence, especially coming from his mother, who was a sex worker. He learned to fight to defend himself, but when the opportunity came to learn to box, he grabbed it. That eventually led him to legendary trainer Cus D’Amato, who trained Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali, and saw Tyson as his chance to find the next great heavyweight. During what Tyson now describes as the happiest time of his life, he trained nonstop and lived at D’Amato’s boxing academy in Catskill, NY.
After blowing through the Junior Olympics as a teenager, D’Amato had him go pro at 19, determined to have him beat Patterson’s record as the youngest-ever heavyweight champion. As Tyson quickly rose through the ranks, knocking out dozens of opponents, D’Amato’s health deteriorated; Tyson is still emotional about his mentor’s death in November of 1985, not long before his mother died, as well. In November of 1986, the 20-year-old Tyson captured the WBC heavyweight title by TKO over Trevor Berbick, fulfilling D’Amato’s vision of seeing Tyson become the youngest heavyweight champ ever.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Tyson has a similar feel to docuseries like The Last Dance and The Captain.
Our Take: Mike Tyson has always fascinated us, mainly because he’s much smarter than anyone gave him credit for. He’s packed what seems like several different lives into his sixty years, and even now, when he’s supposedly more mellow, conversations with him tend to have an edginess to them. All of that is on display in Tyson.
Even though the series is sprinkled with copious archival clips and interviews with some of the people Tyson trained with at D’Amato’s academy, as well as sports reporters who had followed him from his earliest pro days, the most fascinating thing to watch is current-day Tyson. There are points during the first episode where he gets angry, times where he’s forthright about the criminal activity that he and his friends engaged in during his Brownsville years, and times when he gets extremely emotional, like the above-mentioned discussion of D’Amato’s death. It’s all fascinating to watch because, like always, Tyson has very little filter, and would rather let his raw emotions show than pretend to be someone he’s not.
The most interesting moment is when he wistfully wonders aloud why he thought that his dogged pursuit of the title was so important in the grand scheme of things. When you get to the phase of life that Tyson is in, you often look back at things that you thought were important when you were young and wonder why you thought that way. But instead of some sort of college rivalry or an extracurricular you absolutely needed to get on your resume, Tyson gives that treatment to the heavyweight championship. It’s all fascinating, and the series hasn’t even gotten to things like his volatile marriage to Robin Givens, his conviction on rape charges, his shocking defeat to Buster Douglas, or the infamous ear-biting incident during a bout with Evander Holyfield.
Parting Shot: “It’s hard to navigate your true self when you really don’t know who the fuck you are,” Tyson says as we see flashes of what his life was like after that first championship bout.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Tyson is an engrossing look at Mike Tyson’s eventful life, mainly because Tyson ruminating over all of it is so fascinating to watch.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
