Just another night in the wild life of “Iron Mike.”
A few hours before saying at a press conference that he’s “on the verge of dying” due to ongoing drug and alcohol problems, former boxing champion Mike Tyson crashed a wedding in upstate New York.
“I wanna live my sober life,” Tyson said on ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights.” “I don’t wanna die. I’m on the verge of dying, because I’m a vicious alcoholic.”
The Brooklyn born Tyson was crossing the lawn of the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y., before his speech as Greg and Amber Keller snapped photos with their bridesmaids and groomsmen Friday evening, the Observer-Dispatch reported.
Greg Keller says Tyson posed for photographs, congratulated the happy bride and groom on their union and was “extremely nice.”
Tyson, a Hall of Famer, was in Verona for his first promotional fight card featuring boxers from his newly created “Iron Mike Productions.”
The newly married man says Tyson’s surprise cameo energized the evening’s celebrations. It was unclear whether Tyson had any alcoholic beverages during the party.
Later, Tyson told a news conference from the same resort casino following a night of fights, “I’m a bad guy sometimes. 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.”
Tyson admitted to being a continual substance abuser but was hopeful he was finally becoming clean.
“I haven’t drank or took drugs in six days, and for me that’s a miracle,” he revealed. “I’ve been lying to everybody else that think I was sober, but I’m not. This is my sixth day. I’m never gonna use again.”
Tyson will be starring in an upcoming reality series for new network FOX Sports 1.
With AP and REUTERS