BoxingInsider.com columnist Scoop Malinowski recently appeared on Marc Lichtenfeld’s “Through The Ropes” radio show and Tim Palesky’s “Knockout TV” on North Jersey Cablevision to discuss his book “Heavyweight Armageddon: The Tyson-Lewis Championship Battle”. Here are some of the transcripts from those appearances.
Question: What inspired you to do this book?
Scoop Malinowski: It was a major event in boxing, one of the top three biggest revenue generating events in the history of the sport. Though the fight itself wasn’t the most competitively exciting, I thought there was enough story lines and angles to do a book. They first sparred as teenagers. After the sparring, Tyson’s mentor Cus D’Amato actually said they would box one day for the heavyweight title. Those words came true 20 years later. Norman Mailer’s book about the Ali-Foreman fight (”The Fight”), and Leon Gast’s film “When We Were Kings” were inspirations, as was John McPhee’s tennis book “Levels of the Game” (renowned classic book about one match between Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner which delves deeply into the contrasting personalities and backgrounds of the two tennis champions).
Question: Has it been well received?
Scoop Malinowski: Lennox Lewis’s trainer Emanuel Steward called me one night and said it was one of the two best boxing books he’s ever read, called it a smashing success. LeRoy Neiman, who wrote the foreword said he read it straight through in one shot. I gave John McEnroe a copy at an interview we did and two months later I saw him at a World Team Tennis match and he saw me and told me he liked it. Also, a boxing fan on a messageboard thread about boxing books said it was one of the best boxing books to come out in a long time. Those compliments all meant a lot. There was nothing but positive reviews. But it’s selling better in the UK.
Question: Was it a difficult book to write?
Scoop Malinowski: No, not at all. I write for several boxing publications and had all the materials, interviews and relevant quotes collected over the years in my office. It was just a matter of putting all the ingredients together, like baking a cake. Then the plan was to add surprises, insider stories about Tyson and Lewis that most people never heard of. Every boxing fan saw the fight, I knew I had to offer much more. I tried very hard to make the book a special and entertaining read filled with surprises. The one on one interviews with Lewis and Steward at the end were fascinating. These interviews were done just before publication.
Question: You interviewed Lewis and Tyson?
Scoop Malinowski: Everybody involved except for Tyson. But I have enough Tyson quotes from before and after the fight, as well as information about his actions on the day before and day of the fight from his team members, trainer Ronnie Shields and cheerleader Crocodile Fitch. Lewis has always been helpful and gave many insightful interviews as did his team members.
Question: Do you really think it was a fight between good and evil?
Scoop Malinowski: We all admire and respect Tyson and what he has achieved and the class he has shown since losing to Lewis. But the few years before the Lewis fight Tyson was a symbol of darkness, bad morals, wicked behavior. He said he wanted to kill Lewis and eat his children. Bob Arum said he should be put in an insane asylum. Oscar De La Hoya called him the worst role model in the world, said Tyson was seriously sick. At that time in his life Tyson was very bad, he was broke, and fighting to pay debts. He blew hundreds of millions and was fighting to only lower his debts. He was in a bad place and his behavior and words reflected it. But since the fight he has been nothing but class. As if he was touched by the greatness of Lewis and it made him better. Or maybe the burden was gone to have to live up to the image of the baddest man on the planet. Since Memphis Tyson has been a class act, a true champ. But the years before that fight he was the complete opposite.
Question: Were you happy with the finished product?
Scoop Malinowski: Aside from a few typo errors here and there yes. With the access I have in boxing, and the way the book was all put together, I could not have made it any better. The historical quotations in each chapter are a nice added bonus.
Question: Why should sports fans read this?
Scoop Malinowski: It’s a very good read about a historical heavyweight boxing event. Big fights are the most exciting events in all of sports. The whole world is captivated by the biggest fights. But the whole stories about those fights are even better. Like they say, the book was better than the movie, I really tried to make this book better than the fight itself. Like the film “Rocky” was great not because of the fight sequence but because of the 90 minute story leading up to the Balboa-Creed match. Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis are two of the greatest champions ever, two colorful characters each in their own way. For a boxing writer, they are both very easy and appealing subjects to write about and chronicle.
“Heavyweight Armageddon” is available at www.Amazon.com, www.borders.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.
Topics: Ali Foreman, Arthur Ashe, Boxing Books, Boxing Fan, Fight The Fight, Graebner, John Mcenroe, John Mcphee, Lennox Lewis, Leon Gast, Leroy Neiman, Levels Of The Game, Lines And Angles, Palesky, Tennis Book, Tennis Champions, Tennis Match, Trainer Emanuel Steward, Tyson Lewis, World Team Tennis
Scoop Malinowski Discusses His Book "Heavyweight Armageddon" | 