Scream : The Real Mike Tyson

Jonathan Rendall delves into the psyche of fallen superstar boxer and ex-world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, bringing vividly to life a history of street-gang violence, juvenile prison, sex scandals, marital strife, courtroom battles, and imprisonment. 'I could have knocked him out but I wanted to do it slowly, so he would remember this night for a long time.

When I hit him to the body he was screaming like a woman.' Mike Tyson, after beating Tyrell Biggs, November 1987. Over the course of an epic boxing career, Mike Tyson was transformed from the most celebrated athlete on earth to a primal, malevolent hate-figure.

Yet, even after being condemned as a brute, Tyson retained a power -- a power to captivate. His rise from Brooklyn borstal boy to heavyweight champion of the world was electrifying.

Within 18 months of his professional boxing debut in 1985, the 20-year-old Tyson had become the youngest heavyweight champion in history. His personal life, however, was a disaster. His marriage to actress Robin Givens garnered newspaper column inches around the world -- and the marriage headed inexorably, and nastily, towards divorce. And it was only to get worse. Tyson went on trial in Indiana charged with the rape of a 1991 Miss Black America Contest contestant named Desiree Washington.

He was found guilty and imprisoned for three years. Tyson did not fight again until 1995. On his release he fought with a lumbering Frank Bruno in one of the most eagerly anticipated bouts the UK has ever seen.

There followed the June 1997 rematch with Evander Holyfield, which became one of the most infamous fights in history.

Tyson bit a chunk from his opponent's ear and was banned from boxing for one year and fined $3 million. Whilst many fights followed -- and controversy was a constant companion -- it was the beginning of the end. Scream is the definitive biography of Mike Tyson. Delving into the psyche of a deeply troubled and intriguing figure, it examines the paradoxes prevalent in boxing's beloved bad boy.