Champion Mike Tyson reveals his life of glory and bitter mistakes in his autobiography “The Naked Truth”.

Ranked 16th in the 100 greatest boxers of all time, Mike Tyson was the first person to win three prestigious boxing belts including WBA, WBC, IBF and holds the record as the youngest heavyweight champion in history.

Tyson is famous not only for his superior strength and explosive fighting style like a “knockout machine”, but also for his personal scandals that once made Tyson considered “the most depraved person on the planet”.

In his autobiography The Naked Truth , Mike Tyson recounts the life of a young black American man who has just escaped the bottom of society and is pushed deeper by his wild nature.

Through the champion’s cape, Mike Tyson takes readers back to the slums of Brownsville, Brooklyn, where his childhood was filled with violence, poverty and the pitfalls of the streets. Those were the days of being bullied at school and dropping out, joining a gang of thieves at the age of seven, shooting people at the age of 10 and being arrested 38 times by the age of 13.

Mixed in with the dusty life, readers also see a somewhat carefree boy, eagerly taking his bonus to buy new clothes, a boy who is very attached to his mother and is ready to jump in to block the beatings from his abusive stepfather.

The most fascinating and anticipated part of the book is probably the transformation of a small, awkward, bullied boy into a fearsome warrior. Tyson’s life was already full of drama, both naive, mischievous and rebellious before he met Cus D’Amato – the man who discovered and exploited his potential. D’Amato was not only a coach but also a spiritual father figure, helping Tyson practice discipline and believe in himself.

Cus D’Amato assured Tyson that one day, when he walked into a room, “everyone would stand up and applaud him.” Five years later, Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history at the age of 20, making his mark with a powerful style and an almost arrogant confidence.

Tyson’s subsequent fights throughout his career are also detailed in the autobiography, from resounding victories to painful defeats. Through the perspective of a boxer, Tyson both glorifies the beauty of boxing and exposes the pressure and loneliness in the ring.

“I am as hard as steel, the embodiment of Alexander the Great. I attack like a storm, defend like a wall and always enter the fight with the most ferocity. A ragged boy growing up on the streets suddenly became great and was praised by everyone. That is an inspiring story,” Tyson said in the book.

Having achieved success early on thanks to his talent but lacking guidance since D’Amato’s death, Mike Tyson gradually felt lost in the American paradise. There was a time when he had to exclaim: “Cus, why didn’t you tell me what life after fame is like?”

Not only did he become increasingly arrogant in the ring, he also began to enter a spiral of luxury and debauchery. He admitted that he was both attracted to hot girls and thirsty for selfless love. Inside, Tyson was still somewhere “an unhappy child looking for love and recognition”.

Finally, in 1992, the image of Mike Tyson stepping out of the prison van shocked the world. Mike was arrested for raping Desiree Washington, the then 18-year-old black Miss America. At the beginning of the book, Tyson asserted his innocence, but at the same time he thanked the female judge for giving him years of self-reflection in prison.

“Even the king has to go to court and wait for his day of reckoning,” Tyson recounted his feelings in 1992 with his characteristic arrogant voice.

The six-year prison sentence (later reduced to three years) not only disrupted Tyson’s boxing career, but also changed the way the public viewed him. After the verdict, Tyson was more associated with rape, brawls, and drug addiction than his fighting record.

Having risen from the slums and fallen back into the abyss, few believed that Mike Tyson could come back. But he proved that he could not be reborn just once. Giving up alcohol and drugs and focusing on his family helped him gradually rebuild his personal image.

Mike Tyson also entered the entertainment industry with roles in The Hangover movies, television shows sharing the dark side of his life and gradually becoming an icon of popular culture.

With his autobiography, Tyson reveals that inside the “Iron Mike” man was a tragedy as great as his career, with fame and infamy going hand in hand. Despite the controversy, he succeeds in providing a lesson in resilience, self-criticism and overcoming challenges.

The Wall Street Journal commented that “the autobiography is powerful, raw and disturbing, but at the same time an honest look into Tyson’s tumultuous life”.