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But think about it. Have you ever wanted to be Mike Tyson? Would you ever have wanted to live in his world?

The estimated $300 million he made during his boxing career would be appealing. But the rest of his life — from growing up as a juvenile delinquent in Brownsville, Brooklyn, to being imprisoned for rape to being betrayed by those he thought would love and protect him — has blurred the lines of whether Michael Gerard Tyson is a success story or a tragedy.

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Former boxing heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson


“In the prime of his career, he was a destroyer, a pit bull and one of the greatest knockout artists ever,” said Lou DiBella, a Manhattan-based promoter who programmed fights for HBO during part of Tyson’s career. “But I also think he squandered a lot of his talent later. He didn’t get a fair shake. There was a lot of the man’s life where he wasn’t treated like a human being. He was treated like a commodity. That’s a hard way to live particularly if you haven’t had a normal family life. He never had [anyone] who gave a [hoot] about him.”

Added DiBella: “He got [bleeped] more than a porn star.”

It has been six years since Tyson lost on a sixth-round technical knockout to unheralded Kevin McBride at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. It was Tyson’s third loss in four fights. He never fought again, ending his career with a record of 50-6 with 44 knockouts.

But it’s his best years — the years when he was Iron Mike, the Baddest Man on the Planet and the most exciting athlete in the world — that will be celebrated today in Canastota, N.Y., where he headlines a stellar class to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Truth is, Tyson isn’t the most accomplished boxer in the Class of 2011. That distinction belongs to Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez, who will be inducted along with former junior welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu of Russia/Australia; trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain of Mexico, referee Joe Cortez and screenwriter Sylvester Stallone. But none of them captivated the sports world the way Tyson did in his prime for good reasons and bad.

“It was the Super Bowl of boxing every time he fought,” said Showtime executive Ken Hershman. “But it also had this sort of palpable undercurrent of danger to it. You never knew what Mike was going to do. You never knew what the outcome was. The hair stood up on your arms whenever Mike walked into the ring. It was like nothing you could describe.”


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/boxing/time_can_alter_perception_as_iron_5px8mtU0eiy4e9AWxw2WJM#ixzz1PhXY8NvM