Publisher Description
"[Iron Ambition] spells out D'Amato's techniques for building a champion from scratch." – Wall Street Journal
From the former heavyweight champion and New York Times–bestselling author comes a powerful look at the life and leadership lessons of Cus D’Amato, the legendary boxing trainer and Mike Tyson’s surrogate father.
When Cus D’Amato first saw thirteen-year-old Mike Tyson spar in the ring, he proclaimed, “That’s the heavyweight champion of the world.” D’Amato, who had previously managed the careers of world champions Floyd Patterson and José Torres, would go on to train the young Tyson and raise him as a son. D'Amato died a year before Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history.
In Tyson’s bestselling memoir Undisputed Truth, he recounted the role D’Amato played in his formative years, adopting him at age sixteen after his mother died and shaping him both physically and mentally after Tyson had spent years living in fear and poverty. In Iron Ambition, Tyson elaborates on the life lessons that D’Amato passed down to him, and reflects on how the trainer’s words of wisdom continue to resonate with him outside the ring. The book also chronicles Cus’s courageous fight against the mobsters who controlled boxing, revealing more than we’ve ever known about this singular cultural figure.
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“Sloman brings Tyson’s voice springing off the page with its often hilarious combo of street and shrink.”
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The Guardian (UK) on Undisputed Truth
About the Authors
Mike Tyson is the former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, and the first boxer to ever hold the three biggest belts in prizefighting—the WBC, WBA, and IBF world heavyweight titles—simultaneously. His enduring appeal has launched him into a career in entertainment: He was a standout in the blockbuster films The Hangover and The Hangover 2, and recently he has earned tremendous acclaim for his one-man show Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth. Tyson has launched a clothing company and Tyrrhanic Productions, which currently has several film projects in development. In 2011 he was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame. He lives in Las Vegas with his wife, Kiki, and their children.
Larry “Ratso” Sloman is best known as Howard Stern’s collaborator on Private Parts and Miss America. His recent collaborations include The Secret Life of Houdini, with magic theorist William Kalush; Mysterious Stranger, with magician David Blaine; and Scar Tissue, with Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis. All three books were New York Times bestsellers.
About Adam Lazarre-White
Adam Lazarre-White, best known for starring as Nathan Hastings on The Young & The Restless, also gained notoriety on Living Single, Girlfriends, Will & Grace, The Parkers, and in the Emmy Award–winning miniseries The Temptations. His other television and film credits include Heroes, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Deliver Us from Eva, Ocean’s 13, All about You, and Forgiveness. Lazarre-White has many credits as a voice artist on commercial radio, television, and film. He graduated from Harvard and then returned home to New York to train at Terry Schreiber Studios and continue his work on LA stages, notably in Romeo & Juliet, The Trojan Women, and Neil Labute’s This Is How It Goes.