It had to begin with the ear. For all Mike Tyson’s myriad achievements, his scandals and crimes, his knockouts and losses, he will always be remembered as the man who bit Evander Holyfield’s ear off. It is with this visceral image that Mike, a new TV drama miniseries on Disney Plus, begins. After a quick glimpse at the money shot, such that it is, Mike rewinds to the early Seventies, when Tyson was a child. From there, we follow him through his life, ducking and weaving between his painful upbringing, his rise to become world heavyweight boxing champion, and his downfall.
Most people will be familiar with the gist of Tyson’s story. The way he dominated in the ring. His prison sentence after being convicted of rape. His facial tattoo. His pet tiger. Mike isn’t that interested in the tabloid eccentricities of Tyson’s life – but it’s not necessarily all that interested in boxing, either. Rather, it strives to be a character study, breaking down Iron Mike into little psychological ingots. Tyson is played, as an adult, by Trevante Rhodes, the actor best known for his role as the older version of the protagonist in Barry Jenkins’ elegiac 2016 Oscar-winner Moonlight. Harvey Keitel plays Cus D’Amato, Tyson’s coach and father figure throughout his formative years as a fighter. Russell Hornsby enters the series partway through as the felonious boxing promoter Don King.
