Tyson has made peace with most of his demons these days but his anger is still visible in the part of the show devoted to ex-wife Robin Givens. He channeled that rage into one of the greatest boxing careers on record, becoming the youngest heavyweight boxing champion ever. (He wryly notes that this show played the same block of Broadway where he was once arrested.) His mother drank, he didn’t know who his father was and he chalked up 30 arrests by the time he was 10. Of course, as Iron Mike explains, he’s been taking it on the chin since he was a child.

He instantly puts the audience at ease when he promises that everyone will go home with two ears. He’s downright avuncular at times, making fun of himself with grace and self-deprecation. Perhaps the most shocking thing about this show, which is more of a public confessional than a play, is how affable Tyson is. But it has always been impossible to ignore him. Over the years, he gained notoriety for ferocity and thuggery including biting off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear and a rape conviction. Out of the ring, he threatened to eat their children. In the ring, he would bulldoze his opponents. Once heralded as the baddest man on the planet, Tyson, now 46, has always been a larger-than-life figure, from his primal facial tattoo to his swaggering machismo. Written by Tyson’s third wife, Kiki, this one-man bout runs through Saturday at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre on the heels of its Broadway debut.

Directed by his longtime buddy Spike Lee, this autobiographical tell-all may not be a theatrical knockout, but it’s far from a snooze. The prizefighter may not be the most natural storyteller, and the narrative he spins may meander, but there’s no denying that Iron Mike knows how to pique his audience’s curiosity for most of the show’s almost two hours. Mike Tyson doesn’t pull any punches in “Undisputed Truth.”

Mike tyson undisputed truth review