LAS VEGAS — Mike Tyson was a visible presence leading up to the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight last night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. He was the official observer for the weigh-in Friday, worked radio row in the media center and attended an autograph signing for Tecate a few hours before the fight.
More important, he launched his new charitable foundation, Mike Tyson Cares, with a reception Friday night at the MGM Grand — the site of the various high and lows during his career.
The easy manner in which Tyson worked the room, drawing crowds wherever he went and mingling with friends and strangers with an embracing personality, was further evidence of a man grateful he did not wind up like Hector “Macho” Camacho.
“I was saying to myself that could have easily been me if I didn’t have these life changes,” Tyson said. “I remember being in a state where I said, ‘I’m not going to pay the drug guy. I’m tired of paying.’ All of a sudden I’m a tough guy. Somebody might be scared to fight and he sees you when you’re not expecting it because your guard is down and that’s what happens.
“Not saying that happened to Hector, but that’s the way I lived my life when I was out there like that before I changed my lifestyle.”
Camacho, a world champion boxer from Puerto Rico and Spanish Harlem, died last month from gun shots wounds suffered during an assault in Puerto Rico. A passenger in the same car as Camacho, who was killed instantly, had nine bags of cocaine in his possession.
It was the kind of ending many feared for Tyson, who had his own battles with drug addiction. But the former heavyweight champion, who was once convicted of rape, has re-invented himself.
He recently announced his one-man show, “Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth,” will embark on a 10-week national tour beginning in February. “Undisputed Truth” premiered in Las Vegas in April and had a 12-show run on Broadway this summer. The tour begins in Indianapolis on Feb. 12-Feb. 13 and will stop at the Beacon Theatre on April 28.
Tyson’s performances have drawn mostly positive reviews.
“The stage gets me high,” he said. “My fans get me high. That’s that high I was looking for when I was doing drugs and could never receive it. And now it’s back and I’m back doing what I like to do, and that’s entertaining my fans and giving a better perspective of who I am.”
He’s also serious about his foundation. Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Earnie Shavers, Leon Spinks, and HBO broadcaster Jim Lampley were among the notables at the launch party. The mission of the foundation is to give kids a fighting chance by offering innovative centers that provide for children from broken homes.
“I want to leave a legacy of caring for people,” Tyson said. “That’s what’s on my mind now. I want to champion that more so than being a so-called celebrity guy. I never realized giving would give you so much fulfillment. That’s what I’m about now.”
Camacho’s death at age 50 has given Tyson a clearer vision of what he wants do with his own survival.
“There’s so much satisfaction in helping these people, just the way I needed help,” Tyson said. “I was one of these kids. Whoever believed a guy like that could become a guy like Mike Tyson and have a big reputation with people all over the world.
“I’m just so grateful for Cus D’Amato and Bobby Stewart and all those guys because I didn’t think anything like that could ever happen.”