By Geno McGahee
When I was very young, I witnessed something very special. I sat and watched Mike Tyson destroy Marvis Frazier. It was incredible and made quite the impression on me. I became an instant boxing fan and was hooked on the cruelest game, watching these boxers go into the ring in a brutal battle that was only for the most courageous of men. My fascination with Mike Tyson led to me research his past, read every book about him, and watch every sports piece that the networks would run. He came from nothing to be rich and famous and, to me at the time, unbeatable.
CHAMPS is a new documentary that will be available in theaters, On Demand and iTunes on March 13th, and it covers the remarkable lives of former heavyweight champions Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, along with the former middleweight and light heavyweight champion, Bernard Hopkins. This is one of the best boxing documentaries that I have ever seen.
The journey of Mike Tyson has been so public that you almost feel like you are part of it. You were along for the ride and you know him, or so it seems. Watching him now as he is emotional and reflective, you see the real Tyson. The beast that cut down enemies with ferocity in the late eighties and early nineties was a creation of Mike and his team. It was a defense mechanism. To keep his opponents in check, he had to be the monster. When fame hit him and the money rolled in, he wasn’t prepared for it and it began the rollercoaster ride that is his life. The ups and downs have led to a point where he has found some balance and I found it incredibly touching when he spoke of his young daughter’s death and his visit to the hospital where he saw others that have lost their children. He began to look at himself as a person rather than just as Mike Tyson, heavyweight champion. It is very similar to the revelation that another champion, George Foreman, had, when he realized that the spotlight had dimmed and he became one of the people again.
The story of Evander Holyfield is very compelling as well as he battled his way out of poverty, reflecting on his mother’s guidance and how it impacted his perspective. Like Tyson, he fought his way to wealth, but also like Tyson, he would end up bankrupt. Holyfield got wrongfully disqualified at the Olympic Games and fought hard to gain the respect of the public that were so fixated on Tyson. Even when he beat the man that defeated Tyson (Buster Douglas), he was still seen as the second best heavyweight in the world. How their paths cross is very interesting and what happened in the time between shows the different paths a life can take for a professional fighter.
Fighting his way out of prison, Bernard Hopkins, climbed to the top of the boxing game and proved to be one of the best fighters of all time. His run as middleweight champion was unheard of but not as rare as his ability to win fights at the highest level in his late forties. Hopkins goes by the nickname of “the alien” and it’s fitting. What he does is out of this world and his story is an amazing tale of redemption.
Hopkins went to prison at 17 and rediscovered boxing, competing in prison tournaments. Upon release, he would delve into professional fighting and just kept winning and accumulating titles. His toughness is a thing of legend. When Roy Jones, JR., was stopping every opponent with ease, Hopkins took him the distance and got some things done. Now, he’s on a new quest and so too are Tyson and Holyfield.
The focus of CHAMPS is to show the journeys of these three men and where they are now and what fight they are currently fighting. For Holyfield, he is doing the work that you would suspect he’s doing. He is helping the needy and using his celebrity status to push the cause. Mike Tyson has gone into boxing promotion and has tried to advise the boxers against the mistakes that he has made and to keep them away from the sharks that took a great deal of Tyson’s money. Hopkins has made it his point to make sure that the fighters that he works with keep the lion’s share of the money. These are three men that have been through it all and have come out with a new sense of purpose and it is captured beautifully here.
What sets CHAMPS apart from so many other boxing documentaries is the attention to detail and the fine editing. When the boxers speak, they do some re-enactments that just really give you a look into that time. The nice look they give the flashbacks help you imagine that you are really looking at a young Tyson find his way into the boxing ring for the first time.
As a boxing fan, CHAMPS delivers in a big way. Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Bernard Hopkins are three of the best fighters of all time and to see them at this point in their lives is fascinating. Watching the mixture of old Tyson footage with the commentary of Iron Mike brought be back to the time when I sat in front of the TV and eagerly awaited for him to fight on HBO or on Pay Per View.
I highly recommend CHAMPS. It is a knockout.
Rating: 10/10
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