Kevin Rooney: Mike Tyson trainer with dementia sidelined in Netflix doc, son says

Kevin C. Rooney, who works in fighter talent development at Matchroom Boxing, says his father has been battling dementia for years and no longer remembers guiding Tyson to the heavyweight title.

Kevin Rooney, the trainer who took Mike Tyson to the undisputed heavyweight championship, received little recognition in Netflix’s new four-part TYSON series, according to his son, who says his father is now living with dementia and can no longer recall much of his boxing career.

Kevin C. Rooney, who works in fighter talent development at Matchroom Boxing, told The Boxing Pod that the omission had hurt his family after watching the series, which was released on 13 October. He said: “For our family, it’s it’s upsetting. I mean, my dad now has been, uh, battling dementia, uh, for years. Unfortunately, he’s pretty much completely gone.” Rooney was Tyson’s head trainer from his amateur days through his rise to the top, and was part of the team built around the fighter by Cus D’Amato, whose influence on Tyson continued after his death in 1985. A year later Tyson stopped Trevor Berbick to become heavyweight champion at 20, the youngest in history, and under Rooney he went on to unify the division.

Rooney was still in the corner when Tyson beat Michael Spinks in 91 seconds in 1988. The partnership ended after that fight, when Tyson parted company with several members of his original team. His son noted that Tyson suffered his first professional defeat three fights later, losing to Buster Douglas in February 1990 in one of boxing’s greatest upsets.

The son believes that period of Tyson’s career cannot be properly told without the trainer who helped him reach the top. He said: “My dad obviously doesn’t remember it anymore. And now it’s like it seems like history is trying to like completely write him out of the picture.” Rooney is not the only figure from Tyson’s early years missing from the series. Teddy Atlas, who worked with Tyson during his formative years under D’Amato, does not appear as an interviewee. Boxing journalist Steve Kim reported that Atlas told him the film-makers had invited him to take part, but he declined because he did not want to revisit that period of his life.

There has been no public explanation for the limited attention given to Rooney. The series, directed by Floyd Russ, covers Tyson’s childhood, championship success, personal troubles and life after boxing, and was promoted as an examination of his life and the people who influenced him.

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