cover image Blood Season: Tyson and the World of Boxing

Blood Season: Tyson and the World of Boxing

Phil Berger. William Morrow & Company, $18.95 (318pp) ISBN 978-0-87795-962-5

Boxing, writes New York Times staffer Berger ( Miracle on 33rd Street ), is the closest of all sports to the world of entertainment, and the heavyweight champion is the superstar. But, he adds, after the charismatic Muhammad Ali left the scene, there was no exciting replacement and boxing was in the doldrums. Then there appeared Iron Mike Tyson, a former juvenile delinquent, who became the best of the heavyweights and the youngest man ever to hold the title. In this lively, absorbing book, Berger chronicles the champ's rise to the top and his marital troubles, presenting an unsympathetic portrait of wife Robin Givens and her mother. On the boxing front, we're given too much detail about the Byzantine maneuvering involved in setting up title bouts, but otherwise this is a fine book. Photos not seen by PW. (July)