Fact File
Name: Michael Gerald Tyson
Age: 32
Married: divorced from actress Robin Givens. Now married to Dr Monica Tyson. Has four children.
Why in news: after losing his boxing licence in Nevada for biting an opponent's ear, Tyson is reapplying in New Jersey and is expected to resume his career in the autumn.
In boxing as in war, indeed in any endeavor that involves carnage and brutality, there are incongruous rules. Very generally speaking, it is understood that injuries and killings should occur in a straightforward manner, that warriors should resist the more limbic temptations toward rape or torture or outright humiliation. Somehow, and many would say inexplicably, this is called fairness.
And fairness has always been boxer Mike Tyson's problem. Despite winning his first world heavyweight championship at the age of 20, despite an accumulation of earnings estimated at well over $100 million (£71 million), Tyson does not feel the world has treated him fairly. Thus, he chafes at the world's rules. In the world of boxing, these include an understanding that a victorious fighter will not leave the ring with various parts of his opponent's head or body clinging to his teeth.
Unfortunately, on June 28th, 1997, Tyson did indeed leave the ring in Las Vegas, Nevada, with a bloodied piece of Evander Holyfield's ear in his mouth. Tyson had earlier been given a warning when he sampled a taste of Holyfield's right ear. After a four-minute delay, the fight resumed and he proceeded to the evening's entree by removing a visible chunk from Holyfield's left ear. The fight was halted and Tyson was barred from boxing for one year by the Nevada State Boxing Commission. He was also fined $3 million.
But as he is one to seek a way around the rules, Mike Tyson this week went to New Jersey to seek a licence to fight in Atlantic City. He is eligible to reapply for a licence in Nevada but has not done so because he fears a negative decision there.
In a four-hour hearing, New Jersey's Athletic Control Board heard testimony from witnesses that Tyson was a changed man, a man who had character and heart and above all integrity, a man who would play by the rules. Some called the testimony touching; others thought it absurd.
As Tyson sat with his lawyers, dressed in a fashionable black T-shirt beneath a conservative grey pin-striped suit, Camille Ewald, a 93-year-old former housekeeper he calls his "surrogate mother", testified by videotape that he was "very sad and very sorry".
A psychologist, Dr Bertram Rotman, who had spent all of one hour with Tyson in preparation for the hearing, diagnosed him as "a big teddy bear".
Perhaps the goofiest assessment of the man who once said that he wished to drive his opponent's nose "into his brain" came from his Muslim "spiritual adviser", the Rev Muhamed Siddeeq, who told the board that Tyson has "a greater calling. I see Mike solving many of the world's problems."
But before Tyson could tackle the issues of global warming or famine in Sudan, he reverted to his old self in an awkward and temperamental outburst. Refusing to read the closing statement his lawyer, Mr Anthony Fusco, had prepared for him, saying he was too angry, Tyson said: "You know what I mean, man. Oh God, why I got to be . . . on my . . . f-----ng . . . all the time . . ."
Mr Fusco quickly told the board that Tyson was not angry with them, but at what had happened to him. Then, in the kind of histrionic verbiage that permeated the meeting, he declared: "It's time the torture ends. The crucifixion has come to an end. You're seeing a guy ripped apart and we're trying to put him back."
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 30th, 1966, Tyson soon became a petty criminal and was placed in reform school. A local social worker and boxing fan recognised his talents and placed him under the tutelage of Gus d'Amato, a renowned trainer.
By 1987 Tyson had won all three heavyweight titles, becoming the undisputed champion. The money he was earning was unprecedented. For a 91-second fight with Leon Spinks, he earned $20 million. He entered 1990 with a record of 37-0 with 33 knockouts.
But Tyson's life soon began to unravel. His brief marriage to actress Robin Givens ended amid allegations of domestic violence. In 1991 he was convicted of raping beauty pageant winner Desiree Washington and was sentenced to six years in prison. He was released in 1995 after serving 31/2. His march back to the three-title championship was derailed in 1996 when Tyson was defeated by Holyfield. Their rematch resulted in the ear incident.
While Nevada athletics officials are irritated that Tyson has sought a way round them, there is little they can do. For its part, and despite his outburst, observers say it is likely that New Jersey will grant Tyson a licence, as he has promised that his first fight, complete with lucrative pay-for-view television deals, will occur in Atlantic City this autumn.
As criticism grows, and as women's groups protest his return, it might be wise to consider that Tyson, for all his animality, is the very embodiment of boxing, a sport that novelist Joyce Carol Oates has called "the very soul of war in microcosm".
Perhaps it is simply hypocritical to require a potential killer to also be a gentleman.