The American boxer and former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson is bringing his one-man stage show to Dubai in November.
Alchemy Project, the team behind the recent successful Dubai tour by The Illusionists, reports Tyson will hit the emirate for a four-night run of Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth, from November 6 to 9. According to the promoters, the Dubai shows mark the first time the production will be seen outside the US and will kick off a series of international dates. The venue for the performances has yet to be announced.
Directed by Academy Award-winning Spike Lee, the show sees Tyson recalling highs and lows from a colorful personal and sporting life. There is much material to mine, including the infamous 1997 bout with Evander Holyfield.
“Don’t worry,” he assured the audience in one performance. “You will all leave here with two ears tonight.”
A re-match with Holyfield to be held in Abu Dhabi four years ago failed to materialise.
Tyson, who has had eight children by several different women, lost his four-year-old daughter Exodus in a household accident in 2009. He made international headlines again in August when he told a US sports channel that he "was on the verge of dying" from a long-term problem with drink and drugs. At the time the boxer admitted he had been sober for just six days after lying about it for years.
The initial run of Tyson’s stage production spawned a string of sell-out shows on Broadway earlier this year. Critical response has been mixed, with some praising Tyson’s wit and sincerity and others questioning the show’s format.
The UK’s Daily Telegraph described the performance as an “amusingly honest, if at times self-indulgent, two hours”.
The New Yorker described Tyson as “incapable of dullness” but panned some of the “show’s godawful narrative decisions”, such as Tyson ranting about his ill-fated marriage with actress and model Robin Givens.
Pre-sale tickets are available from 9.30pm tonight through www.miketysondxb.com
sasaeed@thenational.ae