DVD REVIEW: Although Mike Tyson retired four years ago he still holds a fascination for the boxing public. When the celebrity roll-call is made at the big fights in Las Vegas, Tyson’s name invariably elicits the loudest cheer. In an era when most members of the public would struggle to name more than a handful of boxers, everyone knows who Mike Tyson is.

For fans who cannot get enough of Iron Mike — and there are many of them — the soon-to-be-released DVD TYSON will surely be a must-have acquisition.

The documentary, by writer/director James Toback, contains no commentary. Tyson tell his story in his own words, interspersed with footage of key moments in his life in and out of the ring.

Tyson begins at the beginning and keeps talking in what called be called a flow of consciousness. Much of the documentary’s content will be well known to boxing fans. Tyson goes over old ground, yet one has the sense that he is unburdening himself, as if he is eager to tell things exactly as they were, and in this regard there is a newness to the narrative.

The documentary claims to be a “no holds barred” look at the former heavyweight champion, and Tyson is certainly unsparing in his self-criticism.

Tyson tells of his troubled adolescence in Brooklyn, and of the fear he felt when being constantly bullied until he discovered he had it in him to fight back when, in an explosion of rage, he attacked and overcame a local tough who had wrung the neck of one of Tyson’s pigeons.

Some might feel that Tyson’s recollections of being a juvenile thug are related a little too fondly, but he does come across as being genuinely affected by the passing of his former mentor, Cus D’Amato (“He broke me down and rebuilt me”) while there is footage of the legendary old trainer cheerfully admitting that his moulding of the future champion was giving him a reason to live.

Tyson doesn’t have too many kind words to say about others who were involved in his career, though. He seems to feel he was exploited by co-managers Jim Jacobs and Bill Cayton, and he is positively scathing in his condemnation of Don King, telling of a physical altercation with the promoter (“I blacked out at that moment”). Tyson does not address his relationships with former trainers Teddy Atlas and Kevin Rooney — there is footage of a young, moustached Atlas working with Tyson in D’Amato’s gym in New York’s Catskills and offering emotional support before an important amateur bout.

Cus D’Amato famously talked about fear being used to a fighter’s advantage, and Tyson candidly admits to fears. He admits that he felt like running away before his first amateur contest, while before many of his fights he was “totally afraid — afraid of losing, afraid of being humiliated” — but as he got closer to the ring he grew more confident, and “once I get in the ring I’m a god, no one can beat me”.

Tyson maintains his innocence in the Desiree Washington rape conviction (“I may have taken advantage of women before, but I never took advantage of her”) and looks back on his tumultuous relationship with Robin Givens more, it seems, in sadness than in anger. He says he “can’t believe I sat there and didn’t say anything” during the famous — should it be infamous? — appearance with Givens on the Barbara Walters TV show, when his soon-to-be-ex-wife described him as a “manic depressive” and “hell” to live with, but adds that if he had “ranted and raved” it would have merely given credence to his wife’s accusations.

While many consider Tyson to have been primarily a powerful aggressor he talks almost lovingly about “the skill, the speed, the accuracy” involved in being a top-level professional boxer. He also says he “knew the art of skulduggery”, namely how to intimidate an opponent. A close-up is shown of Tyson’s pre-fight staredown with Jose Ribalta, who seemed to hold his own in the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation. Tyson knew differently; his opponent had made a mistake “when he looked down for a tenth of a second”.

Some of Tyson’s revelations are shocking — but he almost had me sympathising with him when he explained what led to him biting Evander Holyfield’s ears in the rematch meltdown.

The documentary conveys a sense of Tyson being a complex individual and this, it seemed to me, is heightened by occasional use of the split-screen technique as Tyson talks. Essentially, though, director Toback keeps things simple and straightforward, and the treatment works well: I never lost interest.

I have heard Tyson — who last month got married for the third time — described as a tragic figure. I don’t see him as tragic.

What did come across in the documentary, however — to me, anyway — was a deep-seated sadness in Tyson, a sense that, in his own mind, he could have done better, both as a fighter and as a human being.

As he told his story he seemed, for all his achievements in the ring, somehow empty — living proof, perhaps, that fame, acclaim, adulation, limitless sex and millions of dollars does not, in the end, always equate to fulfillment.

TYSON will be released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on DVD ($28.96) and Blu-ray Disc™ ($39.95) on Aug. 18.