Blood Season: Mike Tyson and the World of Boxing Second Edition

The Blood Season Of Tyson, The Sport & Business Of Boxing.

What I really liked about this book is how it tried – and succeeded – in making a few years of boxing into a season.

Most sports – almost all of them actually – have seasons. What Berger wants to do here is present the early part of Mike Tyson’s career and other bouts that were peripheral as a season – for Tyson’s “season” up through the Spinks fight – with an Epilogue and a Seven Years Later chapter (not as good as the rest of the book) – also included are the side story issues that were spilling over into Tyson’s world – Robin Givens and her mother and Don King -

What’s difficult is that because of when this book was written (it end after the Spinks bout) there is so much missing – but only because of the time line – obviously Berger couldn’t predict the future – or write about what has not yet happened.

I truly hope that Berger writes another book – Blood Season’s 2nd Season – or something that picks up from Spinks and goes to now. . .

Berger explains the Tyson tale through his perspective and through the eyes of a sports writer Sly – I thought it was interesting and informative and as a fan of Mike Tyson I enjoyed it.

I was worried at first about reading another book about Mike Tyson – I was worried about just rehashing the same things or of the all too easy Tyson bashing (thankfully there wasn’t too much of that at all).

What makes this book different is the idea and effort of making these years of boxing into a season of sorts. It’s a unique and interesting retelling of this familiar story.

I liked it and recommend it to anyone interested in Mike Tyson and anyone interested in the sport and business of boxing.

Rating: 4 / 5

“Blood Season: Mike Tyson and the World of Boxing” is essentially a look into the heavyweight boxing scene of the 1980s, an era I am not too enamored with. The genius and competitiveness of contenders of other weight categories as Hearns, Leonard, Hagler and Galaxy struck like lightning on heavyweight boxing and left it stranded. In addition, heavyweight boxing was trying recover from the departure of Muhammad Ali. As author Phil Berger notes, Larry Holmes’ only fault was that he was the one who took over the mantle of Ali, and it was never an easy role to assume. For these reasons, I never found 80s heavyweight boxing too exciting, and for that reason I didn’t find this book that interesting either. That and a few other serious flaws.

Berger makes it seem like that the whole book has been endorsed and blessed by the Bill Cayton-Jimmy Jacobs camp, erstwhile promoters of Mike Tyson. Berger leaves no stone unturned in glorifying Cayton and Jacobs to his heart’s content. He makes it seem like boxing was invented by them! And, since Berger is all on Cayton & Jacobs’ side, the book is naturally an exercise in Don King-bashing. The affection for Cayton-Jacobs, and loath for King is so obvious that it overshadows the other parts of the book, which was supposedly should have been about “Mike Tyson and the World of Boxing”

There are a few good moments though. Berger describes in interesting detail the fighters of the 80s: Larry Holmes, Gerry Cooney, Marvis Frazier, Trevor Berbick, Michael Spinks, etc. Since I have not been too interested in 80s era heavyweight boxing, I did find some passages informative. For example, it was only after reading this book that I researched more into Marvis Frazier and came to know how talented a fighter he really was.

The passages about Tyson’s private life are pathetic. I didn’t buy the book to enlighten myself about how Tyson mistreated Robin Givens, or to read about Givens’ college education (!), or to know about what a character Givens’ mother was. I don’t care to read this atrocious stuff even in tabloids, and I certainly don’t want to spend money on a book on this!

Apart from this, I did not find Berger’s writing too attractive. The boring passages of the book are made all the more bland because of Berger’s juiceless style. I so missed Mark Kram!

Overall, “Blood Season: Mike Tyson and the World of Boxing” is a sensationalist and sleazy book that I do not recommend. The good parts about the 80s boxers are no saving grace; I would get another book or search the net to learn more about those fighters.

Such journalism deserves to be panned.
Rating: 1 / 5