I'm back, back to what my mother
and everyone else said was my destiny.
No matter how many fights I won or millions I earned,
right back where I started, man.
Maybe this is who I am.
Racing pigeons can fly 1,000 miles,
but they always come right back
to the dirty boxes they call home.
Six years might as well be life.
I'm 25, in my prime.
Snatching the title back from Buster would've been cake.
But when I get out, I'll be 30-fucking-1.
Not a lot of 31-year-old champions of the world
out there...
especially after six years no training, bad food.
Bend and spread.
Prison steals everything it can from you.
Every hope I have is all fucked up now.
Who will I be when I get out of here?
Welcome home, Champ.
And by then, will anyone even care?
Hey, Mike.
I'm Ray Ray.
I feel a little bad about how Ray Ray and I got started.
It was fucking prison, man.
I needed to claim that shit.
I wasn't about to be anyone's bitch.
Can you imagine livin' with me in a 8-by-9-foot cell?
Ray Ray turned out to be more patient than Job, man.
Ray Ray tried to keep me out of trouble--
as if anyone had ever succeeded at that.
Now is the time for you to figure out
what you're gonna do when you get out this place.
But you got time to figure that shit out.
Keep fuckin' around, though,
the system will steal your future from you.
Take it from one who knows.
I ain't got no future.
You want to make this worth something?
Read books, real ones,
starting with The Constitution.
Fuck you.
Those first months, I had to prove I wasn't a punk,
because everyone was looking to make their name
by taking a shot at me.
Or so I thought.
You eat that shit.
Probably pissed in it, creepy fuck.
Damn!
Tyson, you tree jumper fuck!
"Tree jumper"?
Never heard that one before.
Sir, tree jumper.
What do you think it mean?
Uh, probably some kind of racial...
"You're a monkey, climbing trees."
You know, I should kick your ass for saying that.
- You're wrong.
Turns out it's a nickname for a rapist
hiding behind a tree,
waiting for women to walk by so he can pounce on them.
I ain't fuckin' do nothin' like that.
So I let him know he'd been misinformed.
They put me in solitary for that one.
Alone in a small dark pit 23 hours a day
with nothing but my thoughts.
And my thoughts weren't that healthy to begin with.
-♪ Somebody, everybody ♪ -♪ Everything busted ♪
It's designed to murder hope.
It works.
Psst, Mike!
Big fan.
I brought you your mail, homey.
Keep the faith.
We are showin' up strong. I put the article in here.
Your people love you, Mike.
People were talking.
We will not let Desiree get away with using us
to destroy one of the greatest men we've ever known!
- I had my supporters,
including this guy.
We're gonna argue that Desiree perjured herself.
She denied retaining an attorney
to go after you in that civil court
before the criminal case even started,
meaning she is all about the money, honey!
Alan Dershowitz,
Harvard professor--
best lawyer in the world.
More like all talk, big bill.
- An albino Don King.
I lost my appeal,
and the Indiana Supreme Court refused to review it.
That's the day I lost faith in the system.
Time got real.
Ah, fuck.
You got to stop fucking with the guards.
From my sister.
They can't break Iron Mike.
Can I borrow that?
- The Constitution? - Yeah.
Better yet.
Keep it.
It was hard for me to believe
people telling me I had a bright future--
Barkim, Cus, now Ray Ray.
I came from shit.
As far as I knew, I was shit.
Now, I know some of y'all think I deserved to be locked up.
- Agree to disagree.
Point is, I became just another nigga with a number.
And in the '90s, niggas with numbers was big business.
You got to understand,
in the '90s, there was a war on "drugs."
GEORGE H.W. BUSH: This...
this is crack cocaine,
seized a few days ago by drug enforcement agents
in a park just across the street from the White House.
Ray Ray's bag was half that size.
They took half his life.
It was 100-to-1 disparity between the amount of cocaine
that triggered a mandatory minimum sentence versus crack.
You want to know why there's so many brothers in here?
In an Indiana cornfield?
'Cause white boys selling coke got suspended sentences,
while brothers selling crack got 20 years.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH: We need more prisons,
more jails, more courts, more prosecutors.
Even with all those new prisons,
we were packed tight and wound tighter.
These people don't need prisons.
They need psychiatrists, myself included.
It's not about correction. It's about punishment.
Treat people like animals...
Who the fuck do you think you are?
They're gonna fuckin' roar.
Ah, what can I say? I'm a stubborn fuck.
Let's go.
But so was Ray Ray.
And eventually he got me reading all kinds of shit.
Better than comic books, young blood?
Not better but interesting.
He never let the pigs get him down.
Even in prison.
He saw the system for how it really works.
Don King used to say he didn't serve his prison time,
his prison time served him.
I never knew what he was talking about.
Now you do.
Inmate number 856951, time to go.
What's this about?
Oh, you're being transferred to Supermax,
- effective immediately. - What?
This don't make no sense!
- Hey, let him go! - Ah, ah, ah, ah!
Give me an excuse.
My people ain't gonna know where I am!
Mike, call my sister!
317-555-0153!
Mike, call my sister!
317-555-0153!
I never saw Ray Ray again, and I was looking for revenge.
Mike Tyson.
And thanks to the stupid fucking guards,
- I found it. - Lloyd Franklin.
Shut the fuck up and don't touch my shit.
I know Ray Ray taught you better.
When I got transferred here in '88,
Ray Ray showed me the terrain.
Like your fan mail, for example.
Solid gold, brother.
"As per your request, I have deposited $50
"in your commissary account.
God Bless you, Champion."
That's, like, $1,000 already.
Uh-uh, move that decimal point, playboy.
More like 10,000, and rising.
This young lady sent photos.
Vicky?
Even the uglies get 40 in trade.
But like any solid franchise,
it expanded quickly.
This joint was ripe for a takeover.
It was like Let's Make a Deal, prison edition,
and I was Monty fucking Hall.
Okay, sweetie, I'm gonna put you on the phone
with my good buddy...
- Cephus. - Cephus.
I want you to show him a good time, okay?
Hi.
Man, fuck the outside world.
In here, I don't have to train every morning at 5:00.
I don't need to be beating up motherfuckers
for your entertainment.
In here, I'm an entrepreneur.
Safe, pressure's off.
-♪ This is how we do it ♪
I had everyone on the inside working for me.
Shit, I even had this dumb motherfucker bring me doughnuts.
So I was the king of the prison.
And I liked it that way.
What I wanted was to just stay in prison and hide.
Outside felt like prison.
And, you know, I'm just being real with you guys right now.
I just kept pushing the envelope
with the kind of shit I was getting into.
But instead of tacking more time on my sentence,
they just kept shaving it off for my "good behavior."
Hey, you sure about this?
They'll throw the book at you for sure if you get caught.
Don't worry about it.
A'ight. Don't say I didn't warn you.
It was the perfect cover.
I stayed out of their Islam shit,
and they stayed out of my shit.
We started spending a lot of time there.
These guys were always busy
praying to their higher power.
I had my own higher power.
They never said a fucking word to me,
until one day...
Hey, Champ. Champ, check this out.
$900 value, all right? You can get faxes on this shit.
One-hour battery life.
You even got a stylus, and you can write
in your calendar, you know what I'm saying?
I'm in jail, nigga.
What kind of appointments I'm makin'?
- You right, Champ, you right. - Yeah.
So, I mean, if you don't want it--
Just take this shit out of here.
Okay, all right.
The new toy of yours won't work.
Bullshit, it's a phone.
Ain't nothing but a brick
unless it talk to the upstairs.
Satellite.
We don't get that kind of signal out here.
You use this space to transact your business.
But you always stay for the prayers.
You can join us in prayer, if you like.
The only thing I ask...
is that you remove your shoes.
At first, the appeal of Islam was,
they're just the baddest of the bad.
First time I saw it was Don's chauffeur, Captain Joe.
Larry Holmes a multimillionaire.
Mike Tyson sleeps on a bed of money!
I make you HBO motherfuckers a fortune.
You love my Black ass!
So don't waste my motherfucking time!
I need something to eat.
This bean pie's pretty delicious.
Mm.
Man, Captain Joe was no joke.
This dude taught Malcolm X,
and he was Elijah Muhammad's ace.
Now, I'm sitting here trying to make motherfuckers money.
I tell you I need something to eat,
and the best thing you can come up with
is a motherfucking bean pie?
God damn it!
I need some real food!
Pick it up, fry it up.
Come on.
You know I don't touch pork.
Then motherfucker, you fired.
What'd you do that for, Don?
Mike, sometimes you got to show
these motherfuckers who's in charge.
I said I'll call you tomorrow.
And don't worry about HBO. They'll come around.
They always do.
Who the fuck are these niggas?
Brother King.
I'm here to respectfully convey Captain Joe is never terminated.
If anyone is to be terminated,
it will be you.
Yeah, Don didn't fuck with Captain Joe after that.
These guys were bad motherfuckers,
but they also had some really interesting stuff to say.
- You--
It's chicken. It's not pork.
I should probably jog more.
There's no boxing in here-- Indiana prison rules.
That's all external.
How exactly do you intend to address your flabby spirit?
You got less than a year in here,
if you manage to stay out of trouble.
But the true freedom...
the true freedom...
comes from elevating above base pursuits.
Are you ready to do that?
The fucking guy knew his shit.
I got to say, I liked him.
Nobody had talked to me like that since Cus.
I started getting in shape spiritually, then physically.
You know, Don only cared about the second part.
- I had maybe six months left,
and he was hyping the world for my triumphant return.
Every million dollars added to my purse
was another million pounds of pressure,
scaring me shitless about whether I could still bring it,
for all of you--
I mean, if you even still wanted to see me.
Ah, man, I was freaking the fuck out.
So I asked for help.
Dr. Angelou, I didn't-- I didn't think you'd show.
You asked.
And if I'm being honest...
I'm not exactly sure what I can say to you.
But if a word from me can help,
then certainly I can find that word.
Still? Even with all they're saying about me?
I approach people as they are now,
without judgment for what they have been,
even Mike Tyson.
That we all have the possibility of becoming.
"You may write me down in history
"with your bitter, twisted lies.
"You may trod me in the dirt,
but still, like dust, I'll rise."
I love when someone quotes me to me.
I wish I was as knowledgeable about prizefighting.
Well, the thing is, I've been really trying.
Been training again and, even better, reading.
Just trying to be a better man, you know?
For you or for them?
Where does that leave you when you're not their champ anymore?
No touching.
You can be more than that.
Excuse me, Officer.
Would you be so kind
as to take a picture
of me and Mr. Tyson?
It's beautiful, brother.
Maya be reppin' the culture for real.
50.
Say what?
For the photo. 50 bucks.
Yeah, I sold the picture...
And doughnuts.
You know how hard it is to get fucking doughnuts in prison?
- Yeah.
But those words, they stayed with me.
The thing is, no fighter in history
ever got back on top after three years away.
No one ever came out of prison in one piece,
mentally, spiritually, anything else.
What made everyone think I would be the one?
The world is waiting for your return tomorrow.
Not mine, Mike Tyson's.
Don says he's worth $100 million.
What's Mike Tyson worth?
Mike Tyson ain't worth shit.
Mike Tyson feels safer in here.
And why do you think that is?
I know what you're trying to do.
You're trying to say this is Allah's way
of telling me to leave the game behind.
Devote my life to what?
Look, I walk out these doors tomorrow.
I don't need no more riddles or stories,
none of that bullshit.
Just tell me what the fuck I need to do.
Mike Tyson...
You serve no one but Allah.
And with that knowledge,
you can choose whatever path you want.
Man, I was terrified to walk out those doors.
My life was so out of control out there.
In prison, I made the rules, and I ran things.
In prayer, I was finally able to make
all those outside voices shut the fuck up.
Peace and mercy of Allah be on you.
All right, Mike... time to go.
What if I couldn't fight no more?
I was just so scared you guys were gonna hate me.
But I was just as scared
of going back to the old fucked-up Mike,
the guy who had everyone, including me,
convinced I was gonna end up in an early grave.
Those were my choices.
I could go back to being Cus's monster...
Don's meal ticket...
or I could be the elevated man Ray Ray,
Imam Siddiq, and Maya saw inside of me...
That I wanted to be.
And I had to decide now.
Captioned by Captionmax