Las Vegas Weekly

October 18, 2012 · 12:10 AM

Mike Tyson turns a page — for real — with a new book deal

By John Katsilometes

Mike Tyson and Gene Simmons at KISS by Monster Mini Golf on Wednesday, June 13, 2012.

Photo: Erik Kabik/ErikKabik.com

Mike Tyson’s life would make a great book.

Let’s rephrase that.

Mike Tyson’s life will make a great book.

At the risk of pre-reviewing a tome not due until next summer, Tyson will doubtless stuff his upcoming “Undisputed Truth” (to be published by Blue Rider Press, a subsidiary of Penguin Group) with plenty of compelling material. At least, if his one-man show of the same name can be used as a gauge.

During the shows at MGM Grand’s Hollywood Theater in April and in August at Longacre Theater in New York, Tyson was unfettered in regaling audiences of his history of drug abuse, soliciting prostitutes, domestic violence and his 1992 rape conviction.

Tyson also wedged in his triumphs as heavyweight champion of the world and talked at length about his relationship with curmudgeonly trainer Cus D’Amato, who plucked a teenage Tyson from a Brooklyn reform school and taught him how to box. The shows at MGM Grand were produced by SPI Entertainment founder Adam Steck and co-written by Tyson’s wife, Kiki. Spike Lee directed Tyson in his Broadway appearances.

In the book project, Tyson is partnering with New York writer Larry “Ratso” Sloman, who worked with Howard Stern on the radio DJ’s 1995 bestseller “Miss America.”

Tyson, who lives in the gated community of Seven Hills in Henderson, is planning a five-city speaking tour of Australia beginning Nov. 16 in Brisbane.

His attempts to secure a visa in New Zealand to start the series of appearances in Auckland have been rejected by that country’s immigration authorities, citing his felony conviction and the absence of charity support for Tyson’s visit.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.

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