Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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Alongside commenting on the Evander Holyfield fight and the post-prison years, we meet Monica Turner.
| Aired (Hulu) | 9/15/2022 |
| Director(s) | Director X |
| Writer(s) | Mando Alvarado |
| Introduced This Episode | |
| Monica Turner | Clark Backo |
| Evander Holyfield | Johnny Alexander |
This content contains pertinent spoilers.
Summary
With Don King treating Mike like a workhorse, there rarely was any time for recovery. Physically out of shape, mentally not in the game, it didn’t matter. Mike was worth $30 million for one fight, and that kind of money doesn’t come around easily. So, if there was a fight, Mike was thrown in.
This made it so Monica Turner was the only one who seemed to have Mike’s best interests. He met her in 1988, though it wasn’t until 1995 they got serious, but she didn’t get the Mike we know today. She was still dealing with the insecure Mike Tyson, who put his entire worth into his boxing career, and found no value in his life outside of it.
Thus leading to the end of their marriage, but as for Evander Holyfield? The way “Mike” paints it, it wasn’t Mike not being ready for either fight that led to him biting Holyfield’s ear. It was Holyfield headbutting him without reprimand. Mike lost points for the bite, but Holyfield wasn’t held accountable for the headbutting throughout their two fights, and that is why Mike did what he did with no regrets.
As for the tattoo on his face? Well, the monster and Mike Tyson were hard to differentiate, and the tattoo appears to be Mike wrangling back control.
Things To Note
Question(s) Left Unanswered
- Why didn’t it get mentioned that Mike lost his boxing license after the second Holyfield fight?
What Could Happen Next
- The resurgence era
Review
On The Fence
Monica Came And Went
When it comes to introducing most of the people in Mike’s life, there was something notable about them. Whether they are famous like Robin Givens, infamous like Don King, or part of what was a rebuke on Mike’s lifestyle, like Desiree, they were crafted to be people who firmly existed before and after Mike. Monica, on the other hand, while it was established she was well educated and working towards becoming a doctor, she was the first one swallowed by Mike’s life.
The Luster Is Wearing Off
One of the issues many biopics or series will have, if their focus is on someone who came up within the 00s or beyond, is the internet. A lot of Mike’s past can be shocking or interesting because it hasn’t circulated for days or weeks at a time, and saturated the zeitgeist – like the Robin Givens interview, for me, wasn’t known about until this series. But, with the Holyfield incident and tattoo being at the cusp of the internet being widely accessible, and the ear biting going beyond the boxing world and being as famous as Ozzy Osbourne biting off the head of a bat, all “Mike” could provide is a why.
And at this point, we’re coming up to a lot of the “Whys” long having been dissected, and, again, with this being an unofficial series, you can’t even get Mike to co-sign on anything being truth. At least the truth as he sees it now.
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