Spoonman
06-29-2004, 05:22 PM
Tyson: 'I Deserve Another Chance'
Former Champ To Fight In Kentucky July 30
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson said despite his troubled past, he thinks he deserves a second chance.
Tyson, who took the boxing world by storm in the late 1980s, will fight former British champ Danny Williams at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky., on July 30. Tyson spoke to reporters at a news conference in Louisville Tuesday morning, Louisville television station WLKY reported.
"This is a free country," said Tyson, who's squandered approximately $400 million in career winnings and is now trying to get out of debt. "It's the greatest country in the world."
The July 30 bout is the first of seven scheduled to get Tyson, who will turn 38 on Wednesday, out of debt, WLKY reported. He hasn't fought in about 17 months, and has spent some of his time lately living on the street, according to the London Evening Standard.
"For two years, I have been a bum."
-- Mike Tyson
"For two years I have been a bum, truly a bum in the streets," he told the newspaper of Williams' hometown. "I've got nowhere to live. I've been crashing with friends, literally sleeping in shelters."
Tyson, whose troubled past includes a rape conviction among other transgressions, said Tuesday he looks forward to the opportunity to show he's matured, WLKY reported.
"I may have a checkered past, which we all have, some more publicized than others," he said. "But I think I've grown since then, and I deserve another chance to prove that my checkered past can be swept away."
Though the boxer has been in and out of hot water for much of the last 15 years, sports fans have seemed forgiving of Tyson, as the ovation at the conclusion of Tuesday's press conference might have suggested.
Former Champ To Fight In Kentucky July 30
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson said despite his troubled past, he thinks he deserves a second chance.
Tyson, who took the boxing world by storm in the late 1980s, will fight former British champ Danny Williams at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky., on July 30. Tyson spoke to reporters at a news conference in Louisville Tuesday morning, Louisville television station WLKY reported.
"This is a free country," said Tyson, who's squandered approximately $400 million in career winnings and is now trying to get out of debt. "It's the greatest country in the world."
The July 30 bout is the first of seven scheduled to get Tyson, who will turn 38 on Wednesday, out of debt, WLKY reported. He hasn't fought in about 17 months, and has spent some of his time lately living on the street, according to the London Evening Standard.
"For two years, I have been a bum."
-- Mike Tyson
"For two years I have been a bum, truly a bum in the streets," he told the newspaper of Williams' hometown. "I've got nowhere to live. I've been crashing with friends, literally sleeping in shelters."
Tyson, whose troubled past includes a rape conviction among other transgressions, said Tuesday he looks forward to the opportunity to show he's matured, WLKY reported.
"I may have a checkered past, which we all have, some more publicized than others," he said. "But I think I've grown since then, and I deserve another chance to prove that my checkered past can be swept away."
Though the boxer has been in and out of hot water for much of the last 15 years, sports fans have seemed forgiving of Tyson, as the ovation at the conclusion of Tuesday's press conference might have suggested.