The making of a champ

When I was a bad kid, said Mike Tyson, two boxing coaches saw something special in me.

THE FACT THAT they were sending me up to the state reformatory was not cool. I was with the big boys now. But Tryon wasn’t a bad place. There were a lot of cottages there, and you could walk outside, play basketball, walk to the gym. But I got in trouble right away. I was just angry all the time. I had a bad attitude.

Soon I got sent to Elmwood, which was a lockdown cottage for the incorrigible kids. Elmwood was creepy. They had big tough-ass redneck staff members over there.

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