'I can't go on': The moment a 14-year-old Mike Tyson nearly quit in the ring

ESPN writer Mark Kriegel 's book " Baddest Man: The Making of Mike Tyson " will be published Tuesday .

The book chronicles the early amateur fights of a 14-year-old Mike Tyson .

The author says Tyson 's first fight was at a Pennsylvania high school in 1981 .

Mike Tyson dropped down Billy O'Rourke twice in the first round of his heavyweight title fight.

Trainer Teddy Atlas recalls how Tyson declared, "I can't go on," then trainer Teddy D'Amato gave him a speech.

Tyson 's account is straightforward enough: an unexpectedly grueling fight between him and "this crazy psycho white boy" The second round he recalls quite reasonably as "a war" Tyson recalls how he'd spoken of being a great fighter, like the legends they'd studied on film.

Esparza was a big, strong kid who ran the three miles to the local gym and back every day.

He was 215 pounds , had a decent jab and a good right hand, and prided himself on hitting hard.

At 13 , his most fervent wish was for a trophy, and he figured boxing would be his best shot.

By the summer of 1981 , with about fifty fights on his résumé, he had qualified for the Junior Olympics .