From New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed boxing biographer Mark Kriegel comes Baddest Man: The Making of Mike Tyson, an electrifying and unflinching new portrait of one of the most enigmatic and iconic figures in sports history.
Drawing on decades of firsthand reporting, archival material, and deep access to Tyson’s world, Kriegel delivers a noir epic of power, pain, and transformation. More than a story of knockouts and paydays, Baddest Man is a searing investigation into the making—and unmaking—of the youngest heavyweight champion in history, who became a global symbol of both fear and fascination.
From a troubled childhood on the brutal streets of Brooklyn to his meteoric rise under the tutelage of the reclusive boxing sage Cus D’Amato, Tyson’s life was the stuff of myth. His 91-second demolition of Michael Spinks in 1988—hosted by Donald Trump in a night dripping with greed, celebrity, and spectacle—cemented his place as the sport’s most feared warrior. But the public persona concealed deeper truths about race, trauma, exploitation, and redemption.
Kriegel, hailed as ‘America’s finest boxing writer,’ chronicles Tyson’s story not by his wins and losses, but by his scars—emotional, cultural, and historic. In doing so, he places Tyson alongside icons like Sonny Liston, reinterpreting the boxer not just as a fighter, but as a figure of profound psychological and cultural complexity.
In the tradition of Peter Guralnick’s Last Train to Memphis and James Kaplan’s Frank, Baddest Man redefines the sports biography, fusing investigative journalism with literary depth to give readers the most complete and human account of Mike Tyson to date.
About The Author
Mark Kriegel, a former sports columnist for the New York Post and the Daily News, is a boxing analyst and essayist for ESPN. He is the author of Namath: A Biography, Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich and The Good Son: The Life of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini. He lives in Santa Monica, California, with his wife, the screenwriter Jenny Lumet.
