'Tyson' Review: Netflix's Docuseries Tells Mike Tyson's Story as Only Mike Tyson Could Tell It, and Already Has Several Times
Floyd Russ' four-part project follows the boxer from his rough childhood to athletic stardom to decades of self-inflicted adversity.
By Daniel Fienberg
Chief Television Critic
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October 13, 2026 12:01am
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Mike Tyson in Netflix's 'Tyson'
Netflix
Of all the contradictions that make up Mike Tyson’s public persona, none causes me to scratch my head as much as this: Tyson’s entire ethos could be boiled down to not caring what “people” — the mainstream in general, but the media in particular — think of him, but no figure of his stature has put in the conspicuous and shameless effort to make sure that anybody whose residency is not beneath a rock has heard Tyson’s version of who he is.
He has been the focal point of an Animal Planet documentary about himself and his love of pigeons (Taking on Tyson) and the centerpiece of an Adult Swim animated series about himself and, well, his love of pigeons (Mike Tyson Mysteries). He had a long-running one-man show about his life (I assume pigeons were involved, but I don’t remember). Even when Hulu made a limited series about his life — 2022’s Mike, which couldn’t have made less of a cultural footprint — and Tyson threw a tantrum comparing Hulu to a slave master, that unauthorized version of Tyson’s story was completely interchangeable with the authorized version he has told so many times.
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Tyson
The Bottom Line
Familiar and visually uninspired, yet still sporadically captivating.
Airdate: Tuesday, October 13 (Netflix)
Director: Russ Floyd