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CNN Larry King Live
Interview with Mike Tyson
Aired December 11, 2010 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Tonight, Mike Tyson. The former heavyweight champ on life at the top and the bottom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE TYSON, FORMER BOXER: I would be drunk at every fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And how the death of a child and years in prison helped redeem him. Plus, he reveals a childhood secret. Mike Tyson for the hour is next on LARRY KING LIVE.
Good evening. Mike Tyson returns to LARRY KING LIVE, the legendary former heavyweight boxing champion, always welcome around here. How are you doing?
TYSON: I'm doing awesome. Thanks, my friend.
KING: We have been together many, many times over the years. Do you ever look back and say I'm not the guy that I was?
TYSON: All the time, all the time. Yeah. It's pretty interesting that you said that. I look at that guy and say, what was going on? Who was happening there? You have no idea what was going on with my life back then with this guy. What was going on back then?
KING: What the most changed you?
TYSON: I don't know. I had to grow up. I had an incident where I lost my daughter in some family accident at home and it was just a time to grow up and wake up.
KING: That was, of course, the worst incident in your life, right?
TYSON: Pretty much, pretty much. Yeah.
KING: She died how?
TYSON: A freak accident on the treadmill.
KING: How old was she?
TYSON: Four.
KING: Were you home?
TYSON: No. I wasn't living with her mother at the time. I was in Las Vegas and they lived in Phoenix. And her mother called me and told me what happened. I rushed down there and it was already pretty much a done deal.
KING: How do you -- you never get over that, do you?
TYSON: I don't know. I don't know. It's a new stage. It's the beginning stage. So I don't know if I get over it or not.
KING: Do you believe in an afterlife? Do you believe that she is somewhere?
TYSON: I don't know anything. I just know that we have to keep on living and being alive is for the living and being dead is for the dying. We have to continue living, you know.
KING: That's an interesting philosophy on life. You are done with boxing, right?
TYSON: Pretty much, yeah.
KING: You don't ever think about doing a Holyfield?
TYSON: Never, ever. I wish I could -- I'm envious that he does it, but I wish I could.
KING: Do you ever miss it?
TYSON: Periodically. Not I should have done this, but every now and then.
KING: You don't go through would have, should have, could have?
TYSON: Never.
KING: OK a lot of people probably still think you're iron Mike Tyson but you're not. And we sent a crew to your home in Las Vegas. Let's show everybody how you spend your days. Here's Mike Tyson, the family man.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TYSON: From the president to the vice president.
UNIDENTIIFED FEMALE: You think so?
TYSON: Big time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I went to the president to the vice president?
TYSON: No, I went from the president to the vice president.
Say hi, Larry. Oh, she's shy. You like that, don't you?
This is difficult. This is a challenge that I welcome with open arms. I love this stuff now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: The career, the life and times of Mike Tyson, an extraordinary figure in the history of American sport, the former heavyweight boxing champion. Let's go back a little. Do you think you had too much too soon?
TYSON: I don't know, Larry. I wanted it I don't know if I was prepared for it but I know I wanted it. I was prepared to get it. I trained hard and worked hard, you know.
KING: How old were you when you were a champion?
TYSON: 20-years-old.
KING: In reflection, would you have been better off if it had happened when you were 25?
TYSON: No, because then I would have been obsolete. I would have just been like everyone else.
KING: So you're glad that you're the youngest person to hold the title?
TYSON: Yes.
KING: You grew up in a tough neighborhood in Brooklyn.
TYSON: You did, too.
KING: Same neighborhood, Brownsville.
TYSON: Isn't that an awesome place?
KING: Saratoga Park, did you used to go there?
TYSON: All the time.
KING: My dad used to take me there for Good Humor ice cream. You had to bust out of that neighborhood?
TYSON: Yes, of course you know, it was a tough inner city, probably the toughest in America, the poorest city in America. And it's just a world of dog eat dog. Of course, it's where Murder Incorporated originated from.
KING: You know your history.
TYSON: Yeah.
KING: You have Brooklyn still in you, though? TYSON: Until the day I die, yes.
KING: Me too.
TYSON: It's just who you are. There's something about Brooklyn people and it's interesting, because every one of us always feel different. For some reason if we feel like we're from Brooklyn, we will like we're the best. Don't you feel the same way, too?
KING: Not the best. Certainly we're apart.
TYSON: Yeah. People are going to know our name and know where we came from. You feel the same way too.
KING: Yeah. A lot of success stories out of Brooklyn.
TYSON: Exactly, 100 percent.
KING: Maybe it's because we're like an island. Manhattan was out there, right?
TYSON: I would say so, yeah.
KING: Do you still have friends from Brooklyn?
TYSON: Yeah, I do. And you know, it's going to be interesting because this new documentary series that I'm a part of, into the world of pigeon flying and bird racing, so you're going to see some of my friends that I grew up when I was a little kid and we grew up flying pigeons together when we were 10 and 11-years-old and we're still flying pigeons now. So it's ironic how we interact, it's not the Mike Tyson that you're used to seeing. It's not like Mike Tyson and his entourage, it's like get that f'ing bird, get this, watch out, move down. It's just really interesting.
KING: I remember Brando flew pigeons in a movie.
TYSON: On the waterfront.
KING: He flew pigeons. What took you to flying pigeons?
TYSON: I don't know. It's some -- I was probably 10 or 11- years-old. And I was flying some birds -- some friends of mine had skipped school and I had skipped school, too, because some guys were picking on me all the time so I didn't want to go to school.
So these other guys saw me and said, come here. You have any money? I was a frightened and scared kid and they packed my pocket and they said, you want to fly with us? I didn't know what fly meant. I said, yeah, I'm a dope. So they made me climb the fence and I had to get those crate boxes, you know in the school, they had those crate boxes so I threw a few of the crate boxes over and we went to this abandoned building at St. Marks, all right.
And we went there and I'm getting creeped out, like why are we in this building with these guys? This is little kids, they're older than me. And we go on the roof and I see a little coup, raggedy coup and I see some pigeons and I'm like, wow. And so these birds that these guys had, they were really ill conditioned birds. They were horrible birds. They couldn't fly 100 feet but every time they would fly, they would land on the building so these guys would make me a gopher, they would make me chase -- go on the abandoned building, chase the birds off that building, say go to another building and go to a corporate building and I had to go to a building.
KING: They didn't fly back?
TYSON: No. They were just so lazy. They had rotten birds.
KING: So you got to like it?
TYSON: Yeah.
KING: Why?
TYSON: I don't know. I really wish I could tell you. It's like --
KING: Do you have birds now?
TYSON: Birds in my house. Well, all together, I have birds everywhere that I journey, I have homes that I live, hang out, I have birds there. So all together I have probably around 2,500 birds.
KING: OK Mike, you don't think that's a little weird?
TYSON: Well, in different places. I don't know. It's always a problem.
KING: When you have pigeons, do they fly and come back to you?
TYSON: Yeah.
KING: Are they like trained?
TYSON: Sometimes they fly 500 miles, you take them 500 miles and they come back. That's just the pigeon world. It's very difficult to explain to a person.
KING: It's also difficult to explain the world of Mike Tyson. We'll be right back with the former champ. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYSON: I was with some friends of mine, I was just in school, must have been 10 or 9. Some guys came up to me and wanted to rip me off and I didn't have any money, so they said do you want to fly birds? And so I went to their coup and I was their little gopher chasing the birds from roof to roof and building to building. I didn't know. I thought it was cool having birds. And then as I got more and more educated in the birds, this is what I wanted to do. It's just like racing horses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back with Mike Tyson. He has talked frequently about changing his life, finding Allah, finding religion. Here's a look back at what Mike said back then. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYSON: Being in here put me in a confinement, put me in a situation to understand Islam, to become a Muslim and be proud of becoming a Muslim. I think I'm more in touch with Allah and I understand humble is the best quality. I've been brass, I've been braggadocios before and it got me in places that I didn't want to particularly be. I just want to be a humble man, live more of an easygoing life, I'm willing to live that life.
My grasp sometimes loosened because I got sidelined things with that had nothing to do with my religion. And I thank God that I grasped and it's working out good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: There's so many inconsistencies in you, Mike. I guess you wonder about it yourself. You find Allah. At the same time, you get yourself in trouble over the years, you've got trouble with drugs, with the law, with the paparazzi, financial problems. Are there two Mike Tysons?
TYSON: I don't know if there's two Mike Tysons, but everyone knows, who cares who you are, the richest person in the world, the poorest person in the world, hard times fall upon everyone. And regardless of what kind of religion, you could be a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, atheist, whatever you are, whoever we are, whatever we have with us, we bring our baggage to us, to our religion with us, regardless of who we are, we just have baggage that we have and we bring it with us. And until we work on the problem that is an inside job, we're going to still be reckless and continue to get into a lot of trouble.
KING: Shouldn't your faith have helped you not get in trouble?
TYSON: I don't know. I don't know if faith can help me. I have to help me. I have to help me. You know what I mean? God don't help anyone that doesn't help themselves. So I have to help me.
KING: Do you remember what attracted you or maybe this is hardest thing to explain, to drugs in the first place? I know you defeated it.
TYSON: I like to believe that because I was born an addict. My mother was an addict. So I am who I am. I love who I am and embrace who I am. And that's just who it is.
KING: Were you addicted when you were boxing? TYSON: I've always been addicted. I've always been addicted. I wasn't using drugs when I was boxing, when I started. But it was so interesting. And then I said why, I didn't do drugs for 14 years but I never considered alcohol is a drug, too. But I would get drunk after every fight. I said I'm off drugs 14 years but really I wasn't. So that wasn't really true. I was just lying to myself. I would get drunk after every fight, just blasted.
KING: Do you still consider yourself an addict?
TYSON: Yeah.
KING: How long sober?
TYSON: Probably 18 months.
KING: See, if you were born an addict, your mother an addict, that can happen at birth.
TYSON: I don't use that for no excuse because if I used that for an excuse, there's no way could I ever accomplish what I've accomplished, you know. You can't help who you are, what you are, but you can sure help your conduct.
KING: How do you avoid temptation?
TYSON: I have responsibilities in my life. I don't want to let my children down anymore. I don't want to let myself down, I don't want to let my wife down anymore. And I have a lot of things to do in a very short time.
KING: We'll be back with Mike Tyson. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYSON: The guy that has the pigeons is the guy that nobody messes with. I don't know if that's what I wanted from the pigeon world or did I really get involve with the pigeons? I always knew the Italian guy or the Puerto Rican guy that had the pigeons in that neighborhood was the man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: I guess the former heavyweight champion, and one of my -- he's a -- Mike Tyson, he's an unusual guy. He has a new show coming out next year on "Animal Planet."
TYSON: Thank you very much, Larry.
KING: It's called -- I don't want to offend you.
TYSON: Never.
KING: Don't want to make him mad. It's called "Taking on Tyson." It's about his life and his obvious love of pigeon racing, which we've already discussed. But here's a trip down memory lane. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYSON: I have no desire to ever think about going back to boxing. I don't miss boxing and I think really the best moment in my life was when I retired because I was too into that character, that "Iron Mike" guy. And that guy was pretty toxic for me at that particular time. He overstayed his welcome. He was finished and I was finished with him. I had to get away from him. He became his own entity and he became kind of creepy. So I had to get away from that. This is just a part of me that I just don't like and don't understand. So I like this guy, this is an awesome guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Who is with you?
TYSON: That's my friend Mario. He also is one of the co-hosts on the show that we're having.
KING: Do we see pigeons flying in that show?
TYSON: Absolutely.
KING: When you have a pigeon race, do they have numbers on them?
TYSON: Of course. They have bands and you have the bands identify them and everyone gets their team of birds, maybe 30 guys, 100 guys -- it depends.
KING: Where do they race?
TYSON: It depends on the duration, let's take them 1,000 miles, let's them 100 miles, let's take them 70 miles, it depends.
KING: Wait a minute. OK, they're going to race 100. Do they race from L.A. to Vegas?
TYSON: I'm sure, yes.
KING: How do you know who won?
TYSON: As soon as they come back, the bird gets in, you clock the time. You clock the time it gets in and you can't cheat because the time is on the computer and then we all wait until --
KING: How fast do they fly?
TYSON: Sixty miles-an-hour.
KING: Whoa. That's pretty fast. You can't make money from this?
TYSON: Yes, you can, this is big money. KING: How?
TYSON: But we're not doing it for money. We're doing it for bragging rights.
KING: How do you make money from pigeon racing?
TYSON: It's one of the biggest sports in the world, yes, everyone does that.
KING: Are you betting each other?
TYSON: Different clubs bet each other.
KING: This was a new world to me.
TYSON: No, this was before Christ.
KING: Do you name your pigeons?
TYSON: No.
KING: I know you had a bad temper. I remember that phase of you. Do you still have it?
TYSON: Well, not really, but I'm sure you can get it out if you look deep enough.
KING: I mean, do little things set you off?
TYSON: Not as much as they used to, no. How about you?
KING: No, I'll get it but it goes right away. I've never held a grudge.
TYSON: I wish I could say that.
KING: You hold grudges?
TYSON: No, I've held some, I haven't had any to hold lately, but I have held some before.
KING: When you were in the ring, you were -- I've had the good fortune of interviewing many, many boxers, many heavyweight champions. And Rocky Marciano told me he would have rather been a baseball player. He never really liked it. He was good at it but he never liked it and he didn't like the killer instinct. He had to have it. It was in the ring. But he never enjoyed it, really enjoyed it. You enjoyed it, didn't you?
TYSON: Well, you know, it's funny you say that. In order to accomplish all of the goals that D'Amato put in front of me, I had to view myself greater than what I truly was. So I had to really get into a character, be this unstoppable, invincible monster, and that's just what it was.
KING: So was your manager D'Amato, trainer D'Amato forcing you into that?
TYSON: No, but I wanted to make him happy. He was like my father figure. I wanted to make him happy, I wanted to be the ferocious champion that was invincible.
KING: What was it like to hit someone hard?
TYSON: You know, Larry, when you're fighting, actually in the ring, in the ring you're talking about, right?
KING: Yeah, for you it could be anywhere, but I'm talking about in the ring.
TYSON: I don't know. You practice it most of your life and then you accomplish it in the ring and you work for it. You anticipated it, you expected it. You don't get a big joy out of it. You expect it to happen. If it doesn't happen, then you have a disappointment moment.
KING: Do you ever feel sorry for an opponent?
TYSON: I don't think so, no. It was either him or me at that time. I could have all the admiration and respect for him, but it's either me or him at that time.
KING: Ali told me once, hey, all of these poems and everything, that guy is trying to hurt me.
TYSON: Yeah, but we can't look at it like this. This is a job. No one put a gun to our heads and made us do this. This is a job. head. It's more of an art. If you're doing your art correctly, you're not going to get hurt.
KING: More with Mike after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back with Mike Tyson. Do you still train? Do you keep in shape?
TYSON: Yeah, yeah, I do basically two hours a day. So the treadmill or the bike, hour on the treadmill, hour on the bike, may walk two hours. And that's all I do, light weights.
KING: Do you go to fights?
TYSON: Sometimes.
KING: Do you like watching boxing?
TYSON: Sometimes, sometimes.
KING: You're not a big fan?
TYSON: I like being entertained. If it's MMA, if it's boxing, if it's a movie, I just want to be to be entertained. I want somebody to entertain me because that's what I like to do. I like to entertain people so I want to be entertained, too. So if I'm not being entertained, I don't go. There's not too many entertaining fighters, not too many entertaining heavyweights in the boxing world. They're good fighters, just not entertaining. People get the two confused, a guy being a confident fighter rather than being an exciting fighter.
KING: Ali.
TYSON: Yes.
KING: You were both.
TYSON: Thank you.
KING: You could go on a quiz show with the subject of boxing. You know your history, right?
TYSON: At one time I did, I knew a little bit, yes.
KING: You used to name, all the champions, the years of the champions, who beat who.
TYSON: Because that was my profession. I wanted to be the best at it so I wanted to know the whole history of their stuff. I was just crazy about this boxing stuff.
KING: What do you remember most about that terrible night in Tokyo where Buster Douglas beat you, biggest upset of all that night?
TYSON: I don't know. I just remember he fought good that night. He really fought good.
KING: You weren't trained well?
TYSON: Well, I could have been better trained, but the fact is he fought great. That really set off everything.
KING: Did you know early on you were in trouble?
TYSON: Yes, yes, I did.
KING: What told you?
TYSON: When I couldn't hit him.
KING: That must have been a pretty good sign, frustrating. Most of the guys that you fought were taller than you, right?
TYSON: Pretty much, yes.
KING: People didn't realize that.
TYSON: I'm pretty short, I'm 5'10." I'm not a tall person.
KING: Yes, but these guys -- would you have liked to have fought Ali? TYSON: No, no, I don't want to fight Ali. That's one of my heroes. I wouldn't want to fight those guys. I like the way history made all of these guys I watched before me, Dempsey, Ali, Tunney.
KING: Lewis?
TYSON: Lewis, yes. Marciano. I just watched those guys and I said, man, I'm glad that I watched them before me, you know, I mean, because if I didn't have those guys to watch and study, there's no way I would have been successful in this stuff.
KING: When you see Muhammad Ali now and you see what the disease has done to him, do you ever fear of something slowing you down as you age?
TYSON: I don't know. There's not much that I'm afraid of, basically in life, you know? Because when you think about it, the worst thing that ever happened to me, I lost -- I lost one of my kids. So what am I afraid of?
KING: You can't top that, no.
TYSON: Yes, tell me about it. So, no, I don't think I'm afraid of anything.
KING: Why do you live in Las Vegas?
TYSON: Because I've lived for -- I've lived for probably 24 years -- 25 years. That's just so long.
KING: What do you like about it the most?
TYSON: It's just who I am. It's where I'm -- you know what I mean? I know everybody there. It's just -- it's not -- like my home now.
KING: Is it hot in the summer?
TYSON: Yes, I'm used to that stuff.
KING: A Brooklyn kid, you know.
TYSON: Yes, but that's OK. I can handle it. That's a Brooklyn kid. We can endure anything.
KING: OK. All right. By the way, do you think you deserve to be in the Boxing Hall of Fame?
TYSON: I don't know. That's not up to me to decide, you know? Let the people vote and decide whether I should be in the Hall of Fame or not, you know?
KING: Do you think you should be?
TYSON: I don't know. I can't -- if I ever allow my will to run riot, I'll say -- I think I deserve to be a God, but I won't because I will never say that. But I just think, you know, I can't say anything, do I deserve anything, because, of course, everybody in their own belief want to be the best in the world at what their endeavors were. That's what they want to be.
KING: I sat with you in the ring in Las Vegas the eve of your comeback fight. You just got out of prison. Boxing -- I asked you if it was a tough way to make a living. You didn't want to answer, and then you said, I don't want to be a harlot to this sport. I'm not going to say something against it.
Do you still feel that way?
TYSON: I don't know. I owe boxing a lot. So I don't really have nothing derogatory to say about it.
KING: Does it owe you anything?
TYSON: Well, I don't want anything from it.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: You made a lot of money from it?
TYSON: Well, that's great, you know? But boxing -- I'm not bigger than boxing. You know what I mean? I wish I was. Not one individual fighter is bigger than boxing. You know what I mean?
KING: We'll be back with more of Mike Tyson after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We are back with the legendary Mike Tyson. I asked the aforementioned Rocky Marciano once if he was ever afraid of anyone. And he said when he was a kid he was bullied, and there was a bully on the block that he was afraid of.
Did you ever have anybody you were afraid of?
TYSON: I'm afraid of tons of people, I guess.
KING: When you were a kid?
TYSON: When I was a kid, yes. You know, it's easy to be bullied because you never fought before, and you don't if you're going to win. You don't have the confidence, you know? Confidence is everything. Confidence breeds success. Success breeds confidence. Without confidence, you just don't go nowhere.
KING: Did you have fights as a kid?
TYSON: Yes, but I wasn't that successful. You know what I mean? They some of the stories make it like I was beating everybody up in the streets. No, I wasn't that successful.
KING: Did kids beat you up?
TYSON: Yes, yes.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: -- after you won the championships, sitting around with friends, saying, you know, I beat him up once?
TYSON: Wow.
KING: Do you ever run into some later on?
TYSON: No, never.
KING: You'd have a tough time. What do you make of all this bullying going on today?
TYSON: I don't know. It's just a different world from when I was a little kid. It's a different world.
KING: I mean, do you know why people bully people? I've never understood it.
TYSON: I don't know. People bully people because they were bullied. That's just the way it goes. The abuser becomes the abusee. And that's just how it goes, right?
KING: Yes, but bullying people because they're gay or because they're different from you or because they're black.
TYSON: Well, I don't know. We don't know who we are. Some people don't understand themselves. How do we understand -- it's difficult to understand people in society now? People just don't want to get along. You ever think racism is at a all-time high. People --
KING: Well, we got a black president.
TYSON: Yes, but -- all right. That's awesome. But, you know, people want to feel different. You know what I mean? We have a black president, but people want to feel the change that he actually -- that we're fighting for.
KING: It's never going to end then. Or do you think it will? Do you think it will ever -- no, it will never end.
TYSON: What?
KING: Racism.
TYSON: I don't know. Everyone always has something to be P'd off about, I guess.
KING: You got to feel better than somebody. You were trying to help a young boy with aplastic anemia.
TYSON: Yes.
KING: What is that? He's an eight-year-old kid. TYSON: Yes, and he continues to have these -- he's like my nephew in a way. You know, me and his father, me and his uncle are very tight. We're going to be on the pigeon show too. They're pigeon flyers with me.
KING: Do they live in Vegas?
TYSON: No, they live in Jersey City.
KING: So how did you meet the kid?
TYSON: Well, I knew him -- I knew his parents before he was born, and we flew pigeons ever since we were all little -- they were little --
KING: All right. What is aplastic anemia?
TYSON: It's -- basically, what he needs is a bone marrow transplant. Yes, he needs that because he has these horrific fevers that go over 105 every day. And there's no way he could stay home -- have to stay in the hospital. He's an awesome little kid.
KING: So they need a match.
TYSON: Yes.
KING: Have people offered? Have people tried?
TYSON: Yes, we had -- we had -- I believe a month ago we had a rally, and we had like 600 people came out, because it's very rare in the African-American and Spanish community that we get any donors.
KING: So you need a black donor, right?
TYSON: No, he's a Puerto Rican child.
KING: Does he have to be -- well, probably has to be Latino then.
TYSON: I don't understand. Well, we just hope that somebody's a match.
KING: What if somebody's watching now and wants to offer to try.
TYSON: Well, I believe we gave the producers the number.
KING: You can call that number and try to help this young eight- year-old friend of Mike.
Mike spent three years in prison. We spoke to him back in 1994 in Indiana while he was serving his sentence for rape. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYSON: I accepted to expect the worst, OK?
When the good happens, it happens. You know what I mean?
But let's -- I don't expect anybody who put me in prison in -- and in the least -- if someone puts me in here and the more polite I am to him and the kinder, the more laid back, that's not going to make them take their foot off their neck. That's going to make you want to crush them more.
If you're in a fight with somebody and you hurt them, the objective of the fight is not to back off and let them recoup. The -- the objective is to smash them to oblivion.
KING: But the law says if you made a mistake, you receive --
TYSON: Whose law said that?
The law of the United States?
KING: Yes.
TYSON: Well, who controls the law of the United States?
KING: Legislatures, the Supreme Court.
TYSON: Yes, legislatures that have their own agenda.
Laws mean nothing. You give me the currency of a country and you can have -- you can make all the rules in the world. And that's all that matters, who's in control.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Do you still feel that way?
TYSON: No. I was a real mean guy, Larry.
KING: Boy, you were mean.
TYSON: Yes. I was mean back then, huh?
KING: I'll tell you, we walked into that -- you walked into that room for that interview, you didn't like me.
TYSON: I love you. You're foolish. Get out of here.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Thank God.
We'll be back with more of Mike Tyson after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
KING: That was a -- a "Funny Or Die" video that Mike did recently, a spoof of a Bobby Brown song, "Every Little Step." Why does that crack you up?
TYSON: I -- I'm a -- I'm insane. Come on, I don't know why it did this. My wife, Lakiha, and Wayne Brady got together and they put it -- put something into play and we did that. And --
KING: Did they dare you to do it?
TYSON: Well, I wanted to do it. I wanted to but I -- I had no idea that it would be so much work, those little dances moves, I almost had a heart attack. I realized I thought I was doing my little treadmill and I knew I wasn't in shape. I had to do -- start doing sprints, because I was just -- ooh, my feet felt like they were on fire and someone took a blowtorch --
KING: But -- but you were --
TYSON: -- to them.
KING: -- you appeared to enjoy it.
You enjoyed it.
TYSON: I had a wonderful time. Yes. I'm pursuing an acting career. But I -- I enjoyed myself.
KING: Concerning that, Mike had a standout part in one of the biggest movies and one of the funniest movies ever made. In fact, if you watched "The Hangover" and did not laugh, you passed away.
Here is a scene.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who the hell are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who the hell are you?
TYSON: Quiet. Quiet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike Tyson?
TYSON: Here's my favorite part coming up right now.
(SINGING)
TYSON: -- guys.
(SINGING)
TYSON: One more time guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh Jesus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: You cannot watch "The Hangover" -- in fact, I don't think it ever goes 30 seconds without a laugh.
Did you know -- did you see -- read the whole script?
TYSON: No, we talked -- Phillips just called me and said, hey, let's do this. And I had no idea that this was going to be anything, like this was going to be a big movie and this stuff. Well, really, let's just do it. And I just wanted to do it.
But the -- the cast was just fantastic --
KING: How long did you work on it?
TYSON: Part -- I don't know, maybe two weeks or so.
(CROSS TALK)
TYSON: Yes. And I just had an awesome -- I'm very grateful to be a part of the cast. I had an awesome cast to work with. They carried me well. And I had an awesome time.
KING: When you saw the whole thing finished, what did you think?
TYSON: I thought it was an awesome movie. And I was back -- and helping. I feel -- you know, the same director did "Old School," which was an awesome movie, I thought. And I never had any idea that we would surpass that.
KING: Are you going to be in "Hangover 2?"
TYSON: Yes, I will, thank you.
KING: Playing yourself again?
TYSON: Yes.
KING: And what -- where are you now?
Can you tell us what the scene is?
TYSON: Well, I'm going to be doing my stuff.
KING: Are they in a hotel again?
TYSON: I don't know.
KING: Bill Clinton is going to be in it.
TYSON: That's what I heard.
KING: All right. Truth -- do you want to be a star?
TYSON: I want to be a --
KING: A movie star?
TYSON: If possible, yes. I just want to have fun. I take myself too seriously and that's not fun.
KING: Now, you must have been proud.
Did you go to the grand opening?
Did you go to the premier?
TYSON: Well, I didn't -- I didn't have time to go to the premier but I -- I've got a lot of reviews and a lot of people gave me accolades and I'm just very grateful.
KING: Well, you appear to enjoy yourself before the camera. I mean you -- you were at home.
TYSON: Well, I'm -- I've been doing it for a long time, pretty much. And I'm just -- I just -- I'm just pretty grateful. I feel that -- I could have been going in a different direction right now. And I'm just pretty grateful. Allah has pretty blessed me, you know, with a lot of good blessings.
KING: We're back with more of Mike Tyson after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back with Mike Tyson.
By the way, in the -- what are they calling it, "Hangover 2?"
TYSON: Yes.
KING: Yes?
Bill Clinton is going to be in it, Mike Tyson. Mel Gibson was supposed to be in it, but the cast voted him off.
TYSON: Yes, the cast voted him off. I had -- you know, I haven't got -- I -- I --
KING: They didn't ask you?
TYSON: Well, I could never vote anybody off of nothing or judge anyone, I'm --
(LAUGHTER)
TYSON: -- trust me, you know, I don't --
KING: You're beyond --
TYSON: Yes.
KING: You don't judge.
TYSON: I live in a big glass house, you know, and I beg that no one throws a pebble at it.
KING: Why did you do that interview with Robin Givens with Barbara Walters?
TYSON: I don't know. I --
KING: Why did you do that?
She was --
TYSON: Because I was a schmuck back then. I was just a young kid. I'm a schmuck, Larry, that's why. I don't know why I did it.
KING: You sat there and she's telling all these terrible things about you and you're sitting there taking it.
TYSON: I don't know, Larry.
What should I have did, kicked her in the head?
Larry, you tell me --
KING: No.
TYSON: You give me advice, Larry.
KING: The advice for the --
TYSON: You give -- I want your advice. You have more --
KING: Don't go on the show.
TYSON: I'm -- I know. Well, I should have had you as my adviser or something back then, you know. I mean you have more experience with women than I do and that matters.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Oh, yes, yes, yes.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: All right. What new projects are you working on?
TYSON: Well, I --
KING: Have you got something to do with an airline?
TYSON: Yes.
KING: What?
TYSON: L.V. Airlines. It's an airline comp -- company --
KING: In Las Vegas?
TYSON: Yes. Of course, you know --
KING: I don't know where that is.
TYSON: Las Vegas is in an economical crisis and everything. And we're working so hard just to give back to the community, since I'm in a big community, in Las Vegas for 24 years.
KING: This is an airliner -- short hauls?
TYSON: Pretty much. No, this is an ultra luxury airline.
KING: Oh, oh.
TYSON: Ultra luxury air. You know what I mean, it's pretty much taken the place -- American planes have taken the place of like the Concorde, so to speak, you know?
KING: Where does it fly to?
TYSON: It flies from all over the country to Las Vegas. Yes.
KING: How many people does it hold?
TYSON: Well, I'm not aware of that right now. But I know it's going to be awesome. By -- next year it's going to come out and it's going to be a pretty awesome --
KING: L.V. Air?
TYSON: Yes.
KING: Are you an investor? Are you a spokesperson?
TYSON: A little bit of both, yes.
KING: Did you say you're -- you're not putting me on, right?
TYSON: No, I'm very serious.
KING: Because I could see you on a luxury airliner. "Welcome to L.V. Air, ladies and gentlemen."
TYSON: No. Hey, I'm Mike Tyson. Come to Las Vegas and hang out with me.
KING: Sit down, baby.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: All right, you've got L.V. Air. You've got a movie career.
TYSON: OK. And then we have --
KING: Where do you earn --
TYSON: We have a production company, me and my wife. I mean she invented this company, really. It's called Tyrannic. And it's --
KING: Tyrannic?
TYSON: Yes.
KING: What does it do?
TYSON: It produces movies. It's a production company. And we -- we have movies in the making and it's going to be pretty awesome.
KING: Do you ever -- it's well known -- do you ever regret all the -- of the money you went through?
TYSON: No, I don't regret anything. You know, there's nothing that I really regret, you know, because I'm just -- I'm living. I'm just happy to still be alive. You know, there's people that died with billions of dollars. They're not here no more. As long as you continue to live, something good it's going to happen. And, you know, we're going to all die anyway, of course, right?
So you might as well continue to go on in life strong, hard, with greatness, tenacity and positivity. And you can make great things happen for yourself if --
KING: Rehab did a lot for you?
TYSON: Excuse me?
KING: Rehab, when you --
TYSON: Yes, rehab was pretty awesome, for me.
KING: And we were -- I had lunch with you.
TYSON: Yes, it was just a --
KING: While you were in that. And that really helped you.
TYSON: It was good for me. See and I'm -- I'm one of those guys, I needed a structure. I never -- I never really had a structure. That's why I've been successful in fighting, because I was structured there. I was -- I just believed this is what I should do and this is what I was born to do and all that ridiculous stuff.
So that's what really keeps me on the straight and narrow, I'm pretty much structured in my family. It's pretty much my whole existence, you know what I mean.
KING: We'll be back with our remaining moments with a good guy, Mike Tyson.
Don't go away.
TYSON: Well, thank you, Larry. I've been called worse.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KING: We're back.
If you see Mike with his head down, I just took a shot at him and --
(LAUGHTER)
KING: I'm kidding. I hit him in the -- OK. It's all right.
You're going to be a father again?
TYSON: Yes. That's going to be awesome. There's going to be awesome. I'm going to --
KING: When is she due?
TYSON: February 1st. February 1st.
KING: Do you know what it is?
TYSON: It's a boy. It's a boy. It's a boy.
KING: Little Mike Tyson?
TYSON: Yes.
KING: Are you going to name him junior?
TYSON: No. No, I'm not going to do that to the poor kid. But --
KING: Don't name him Mike?
TYSON: No.
KING: No, that puts a heavy burden on a kid.
TYSON: Yes, that's going to be deep. I don't want to do that. But I don't know, I just want to -- I'm just looking forward to trying to do this stuff right. Of course, you know, you -- I want to do it right. I've been married -- this is my third marriage. I want to do it right. I want to do it right.
KING: Well, there's nothing like being a father.
TYSON: Yes.
KING: Nothing.
TYSON: No, it's nothing like being a committed father. You have to be committed and dedicated. This is going to be something new on me, to be totally committed and dedicated to this situation.
KING: Something I've meant to ask you --
TYSON: What? KING: Why did you put those markings on your face?
TYSON: Because I liked this. This is what I wanted to do. When I saw the tattoo, I wanted to do it. But I just didn't find the right tattoo to do it with.
KING: Don't -- doesn't tattooing hurt?
TYSON: Well, I -- yes, it did hurt a little. Yes.
KING: It hurt a little?
TYSON: Yes.
KING: They're -- they're taking a needle, right, and they're rubbing it into your head.
Why?
TYSON: Because I want to, Larry. Because I wanted the tattoo, Larry. That's why I did it. Because I wanted the tattoo.
KING: Are you happy with them?
TYSON: Yes, pretty much. Yes.
KING: You like the look?
TYSON: Yes.
KING: Because you didn't need anything to tell people who you were.
Do you think it scares people?
Do you think it --
TYSON: Well, if it did, I wouldn't be on this show.
KING: Who hit you the worst ever?
TYSON: I don't know, everyone.
KING: No, but the worst ever --
TYSON: And when they hit me, you know, please --
KING: But was it ever a punch that -- whoa?
TYSON: Yes, Ray Ruddock, a couple of guys, Holyfield. You're talking about when you were like whoa. When you get hit, it doesn't hurt anymore. It's just numb. You just hear the bell ringing -- bong.
KING: Yes, bong.
It's not pain?
TYSON: No. But of course you wouldn't know. If anybody had really been clocked -- of course, Larry, if someone got clocked, well, they'll tell you that you -- you don't feel anything. It's not like, oh, you're in a lot of pain. When you get clocked really good and you really get knocked out, you don't -- you don't feel a thing.
KING: You're just gone?
TYSON: Yes. You don't feel anything.
KING: Thank you, Mike.
TYSON: Yes, you're welcome, Larry.
KING: Mike Tyson.
Hope you enjoyed this hour.
Now, we are a -- we're a different kind of show.
Tomorrow night, our guest is the richest man in the world, Carlos Slim. He is worth 56 billion dollars. That should be fascinating. And you'll see it right here.
Thank you for joining us.
"A.C. 360" is next.
