Former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson made some stunning revelations about his ongoing drug and alcohol addiction during a press conference Friday.
“I haven’t drank or took drugs in six days, and for me that’s a miracle. I’ve been lying to everybody else that think I was sober, but I’m not,” Tyson, 47, told reporters in New York, where he was promoting his first fight card with Iron Mike Productions. “This is my sixth day. I’m never gonna use again.”
In recounting his preparations to make peace with his estranged former trainer, Teddy Atlas, Tyson spoke of a recent Alcoholics Anonymous meeting he attended, the Huffington Post reported.
“I’m a [expletive]. I’m a bad guy sometimes,” he continued. “I did a lot of bad things, and I want to be forgiven. So in order for me to be forgiven, I hope they can forgive me. I wanna change my life, I wanna live a different life now. I wanna live my sober life. I don’t wanna die. I’m on the verge of dying, because I’m a vicious alcoholic. Wow. God, this is some interesting stuff.”
Tyson connected his need to make peace with his former trainer to staying sober. The two have been at odds since 1982, when Atlas reportedly fired a weapon at Tyson, purposely missing him after Tyson supposedly approached a young woman “in a crude manner,” ESPN reported.
“Life is short, man. I made amends with everybody,” the former boxer added. “I never talked to Teddy or made any kind of amends with him or said, ’sorry.’ And I just owe that to my sobriety to make amends. And that’s just what I want to do with my life. I’m a vicious addict and I’m recovering. And I’m going to die if I don’t follow my steps, I’m useless. If I don’t do what the book tells me to do I’m going to die and that’s just what is going to happen.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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