SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Acclaimed author Mark Kriegel returned to his haven for a homecoming on Saturday.

After a whirlwind month-long tour to promote his latest project, "Baddest Man: The Making of Mike Tyson," the New York-bred, Santa Monica-based writer held a book reading and signing at the Churchill Boxing Gym in Los Angeles.

A conversation followed with Kriegel's longtime Top Rank on ESPN colleague Crystina Poncher while dignitaries such as Larry Merchant and nearly a hundred other friends, family, and fans ate up morsels of revelations from the memoir on what molded Iron Mike, and Kriegel’s process documenting the fascinating fighting figure he once loathed.

The recently married Kriegel explained how the Peter Berg and Freddie Roach-founded gym gave him a place to hit and be hit, beginning a decade ago in what he labels as a dark time in his life.

For his latest project, the biographer of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, Joe Namath, and Pete Maravich delves into the dichotomy of a dark yet captivating subject that has been exhaustively dissected and discussed for decades with a fresh, nuanced look.

A project that started as an essay evolved into a two-part book behemoth for the ESPN reporter and commentator, and former sports columnist for the New York Daily News. Kriegel quipped that he deliriously agreed to write about Tyson while on medication, recovering from a hamstring injury, because he owed the publisher money.

“I didn't really want to revisit who Tyson was and certainly not revisit all of the [expletive] that I wrote about Tyson back in the day as a 20-to-30 something year old columnist who thought he was some tabloid genius,” said Kriegel. “There was so much that was already written about him. He was the genesis of tabloid culture, and even his own autobiography was very searing.”

"Baddest Man" covers the protagonist across 448 pages from birth all the way to his first-round knockout of Michael Spinks in 1988 in a way that Tyson’s autobiography and other projects have not throughout the years.

Kriegel’s exhaustive reporting reached all the way to Tyson’s formative years, which include insights from the former heavyweight champion’s half brother as well as amateur opponents and sparring partners before Tyson turned pro in 1985.

“My books are invasive,” said Kriegel. “I reconsidered Tyson for what he survived. He was a villain, but it’s hard not to like him. Judgment becomes a little bit better when you get your ass kicked, so I conned myself to write about him.”

Excerpts of the book can be read across ESPN, Esquire, and the New York Post.

Kriegel is currently working on the second installment.