As Mike Tyson returns to the ring, a look back at his tumultuous past | Nightline

just at a glance looking at your life arrested 38 times by age 13 heavyweight champion the world by 20 convicted of rape by age 30. you've lived so many lives yeah that's true and there's people that had worse and in spite of they still succeeded so i'm nobody i've i've been a millionaire most of my life i'm good i learned gratitude this is what i learned from life kicking my ass i learned gratitude mike tyson today seems a very different man from the one many of us remember for two decades he was a king boxing royalty a once undisputed world heavyweight champion tyson attacks immediately iron mike his ferocious and intimidating boxing style earned him the title the baddest man on the planet the uppercut body shots both inside the ring and out you are a complicated dude i'm up now 15 years later at 54 years old tyson is making his return to the ring in an exhibition fight against fellow former champ roy jones jr this is the exhibition but things happen when two men get in the ring and we throw punches what happens well it's unwritten clause in our contract that anytime they're in training and fighting you can die that's a great possibility that we wish don't happen we hope don't happen it's interesting because the old mike tyson i would imagine was okay to of the idea are you having to die to be successful but not but not mike tyson today well that guy he didn't have any self-love or self-respect so of course he don't want to live this is a different guy but it's so much more i want to do for other people part of tyson's motivation in returning to the ring is the launch of his new initiative legends only league a chance for retired athletes to come together and face off once more this is how it all came to paul because i was looking at this story and the stories about jerry rice too old to be playing on wide receiver and it was just a few seconds off of his time but he can't play but still this asks anybody who would they rather see play jerry rice or the guy that plays his position that's playing his position right now you know on the team that he played with and you would get overwhelmingly they want to see jerry rice there's a season for all things you allow that season to exist mike tyson has passed through many a season he was raised in brownsville in brooklyn new york where poverty and violence were neighbors no stranger to street crime tyson was arrested more than 30 times by the age of 12. eventually he was introduced to legendary trainer and boxing manager customato who molded tyson into a professional boxer oh big right hand in 1986 he fought trevor bourbon for the world title he's going to go he made history becoming the youngest heavyweight champion of all time at age 20. a big win for mike tyson from there he became a worldwide phenomenon i remember once covering uh years ago mudslide in honduras thousands dead and we see this one man and he's running like he's going into his house to rescue perhaps his wife a child a pet you nobody's running at a house to rescue what's that it was a picture this big of muhammad ali it was a picture about this big of you are you serious yeah well you know um i don't know how to answer those questions when people put me in a i don't know a pedestal you say it's just really oh no i don't look at myself in the light that people look at me people have always looked at him many times not positively there was this tumultuous marriage to actress robin gibbons in 1988 that spired into that infamous interview with barbara walters where givens accused him of domestic violence on national television he shakes he pushes he [Music] he swings their marriage ended in divorce shortly after years later tyson told oprah he had been violent towards his then wife was it an abusive relationship oh definitely definitely in another and glorious chapter of his life tyson found himself in an indianapolis courtroom in 1992 accused of raping an 18 year old beauty contestant desiree washington he was found guilty and sentenced to prison tyson was given six years beginning immediately he was released after serving less than three years and returned to the ring but just two years later he violently bit the ear of evander holifield during their match which resulted in the suspension of his boxing license in 2005 he left the sport behind eventually finding a new home in hollywood why quiet thanks to a famous cameo in the hangover mike tyson this is my favorite part coming up right now [Music] but odd and offset addiction ruled his life and rock bottom came with it i od a bunch of times you know and my wife snapped me out of it and stuff called people you know fixed me up hey we're hot boston i'm mike tyson these days tyson co-host a podcast and oversees the tyson wrench a company that promotes cannabis based products but tyson says his most important title now family man nice to meet you sir take your hand welcome look at his face he's gonna die all school fathering it has to start with self-respect and you have to learn to treat people the way you treat yourself and the way you want to be treated all starts within here his daughter milan is a promising tennis player do you counsel her yet about the trappings of athletic success she's just different she's most interested when i was when i was a kid listen listen when she lose the game she goes back to a multi-million dollar house when i lose i go back to juvenile detention could you have imagined 30 years ago that mike tyson boxing champion will become mike tyson's suburban dad husband well um well life is beating me in submission i'm this guy because i'm i'm unable to successfully be that that i was before so i'm trying to go the other way now how's that going for you i have struggles but it's really good it's really good it's really good it's really good in the me too era mike tyson's own story might have ended with the rape conviction there have been perhaps no second chance but to this day he continues to fascinate gracing the couches of late night television hinting at future fights fans and critics all still waiting watching his next move why do you think so many people on this earth still are so engaged so curious about mike listen i don't know i got all kind of records i got raped i got some sex cases i got some violent stuff on my wrist i have no idea perhaps we're so drawn to him because in many ways there may be a little bit of mike tyson in all of us flashes of brilliance brokenness triumph in trouble flawed failings frozen in time and many days in between simply doing the best he can success for me is um not you know my wife success for me is being responsible and being present that's success for me our thanks to mike and his wife kiki hi everyone george stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the abc news youtube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our channel and don't forget to download the abc news app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 1,044,748

Rating: 4.8994975 out of 5

Keywords: Mike, Tyson, former, undisputed, world, heavyweight, champion, Roy, Jones, Jr, boxing, exhibition, match, sports, abc, abcnews, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-74392184

Id: c6Wd4RVR1wI

Length: 8min 25sec (505 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 25 2020