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| On the Ropes Again, Tyson on Drug Charges |
1/5/2007 |
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Paul Kent, Daily Telegraph , 05/01/2007
Mike Tyson''s high-energy, peek-a-boo style was always considered a young man''s triumph - one all the experts doubted would last the distance. Just like Mike himself.
Nobody is surprised that Tyson’s life has gone pear-shaped, and now it appears headed the worst way. Tyson was charged on Wednesday with drug possession and driving under the influence of drugs, enough for Arizona’s top prosecutor to say he wants to send Iron Mike away for as long as eight years. This is what it has come to for Tyson, a tragedy forever being written.
"He has run out of second chances, at least in my book,” said Maricopa County prosecutor Andrew Thomas, whose book is the only one that matters.
Tyson, 40, was charged with two felonies for drug possession and two misdemeanour counts of driving under the influence of drugs.
He faces between two years and 7½ years if convicted of all four charges. Tyson’s prison record makes him eligible for prison time instead of the drug treatment programs Arizona usually promotes for non-violent offenders.
That Tyson appears headed to jail for the third time should surprise no one.
Here was a kid from the ghettos with an unnatural talent for hitting people, one that he took to, admittedly, with some gusto, who had found himself in a juvenile detention centre where his talent was eventually discovered.
From there, though, with a little polish and a lot of spit, Tyson would go on to become the youngest heavyweight champion in history, knocking Trevor Berbick down three times with one punch in 1986.
Tyson was bigger than the title. He had it all, and it was all on offer. He couldn’t handle it, though; the dark side was too close to the surface, and in 1992 Tyson was convicted of rape in Indiana and sent away for three years. He went away again in 1998 after pleading no contest to misdemeanour assault charges when he beat up a motorist in Maryland.
This time Tyson was leaving a nightclub in Scottsdale, Arizona, when police spotted his car weaving. They could hardly miss it – he nearly broadsided them after shooting through a stop sign. The police searched his car and found three bags of a white powder later revealed as cocaine.
Mike was busted. He admitted using, the arresting officer’s report saying Tyson “stated he is an addict and has a problem”. He was arrested and released without bond, and faces another hearing within a fortnight.
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