Interview With Mike Tyson; Judge Rules NSA Phone Surveillance Unconstitutional
TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. In our sports lead, the saga of Iron Mike Tyson has been one of the more infuriating and tragic and upsetting in American sports in the last quarter century. From a rags-to-riches heavyweight champion success story, to convicted rapist, to ear-biting mess, Tyson is now attempting a new act in his life, something no one saw coming on the streets of Brownsville back in the warriors days. Iron Mike Tyson is now an author, working with co-author Larry Sloman of "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth", telling his story with a bare knuckle honesty that's both tragedy and comedy.</s>TAPPER: Thanks for joining us, champ. Appreciate it. So, a new book.</s>MIKE TYSON, "UNDISPUTED TRUTH": Yes.</s>TAPPER: Very thick.</s>TYSON: Yes.</s>TAPPER: The "Undisputed Truth." And Broadway show, HBO special, you're going to start boxing promoting.</s>TYSON: Yes.</s>TAPPER: What's the goal here? Is this just a redemption? Is this just the next phase of your life? What are you hoping for?</s>TYSON: No, I don't want anything. I want to entertain people. I don't believe in redemption. No one can redeem themselves. It's either they want to change their lifestyle or they don't. There's no such thing as we want to redeem myself. We don't forget what happened in the past. People always say forget, forget that, forget that, but we never forget, do we? We never forget.</s>TAPPER: The incredibly difficult childhood that you write about, you had gotten into robbing people when you were 7. You really had no supervision, nobody teaching you right from wrong.</s>TYSON: The people that was over my house, you know, they were pretty much into the fast street life. I realized that was -- that was the life I was into, that was my house pretty much. Even though they were nice people, they came across as nice people, they always were into some kind of vice or something.</s>TAPPER: How does it shape you mentally as an athlete when Cus D'Amato trained you? You were fierce in the ring. You would get into the ring and people were scared of you. Were you channeling the anger that you had from your childhood or was it just something completely different?</s>TYSON: Well, it could have been that as well, you know? I think a lot of it had to do with that. A great part of it had to do with that because I never wanted to live that life again. And I realized every fight was a decision, if I'm going to go back to that lifestyle or not. I really took competition extremely serious. It wasn't like most kids, we're going to win a trophy and my parents came, we got pop Warner softball. No. Every fight as a kid was extremely serious, to develop to the next stage of my career, my success as far as becoming a heavyweight champion.</s>TAPPER: Are you following at all the stories about the kids that do this knockout game? What do you think of it? What do you make of it?</s>TYSON: I think that's just really some bad stuff, you know? It's really bad and I believe those people should be dealt with. Only thing, I saw one guy and everybody else was women. So, you know, these guys are cowards. I'm not going to base my opinion on what should happen to them but these are really bad people and should be dealt with, the full extent of the law.</s>TAPPER: You're a complicated guy. You've had real highs and real lows. What do you think has been the highlight of your life so far? Your best moment?</s>TYSON: I don't know. Maybe getting off drugs, just living my life now, this is the highlight of my life now. Not in jail, I didn't kill anybody, no one killed me, I don't have no complicated life right now. You know, life is not a bowl of cherries even now, you know?</s>TAPPER: Why not?</s>TYSON: Because I'm dealing with life on life's terms. I'm dealing with people, I have different children from different people. So, that's never an easy situation. I'm just happy that my children didn't turn out like I did, you know. There's always a struggle in situations like that.</s>TAPPER: You said I never killed anybody. It is to a degree, considering how ferocious you were in the ring and some of the troubles you've had with the law, it is kind of amazing that you never killed anyone.</s>TYSON: Well, it's amazing no one ever killed me, either. It goes both ways. I tried the best of my ability, the last five years, to live my life like a productive citizen in society. Residuals and residue of a life that had so much potential and just didn't reach its highest potential.</s>TAPPER: You feel like you didn't reach your highest potential?</s>TYSON: Absolutely not.</s>TAPPER: You were heavyweight champion of the world.</s>TYSON: I could have been better.</s>TAPPER: A better person or better fighter?</s>TYSON: Both.</s>TAPPER: You're trying now to be a better person.</s>TYSON: I am a better person now. I'm not trying. I am. I established that. Life has ups and downs. Anyway, hard times fall upon anybody. If I won the Nobel Peace Prize, still, I have to deal with life on life's terms.</s>TAPPER: So, at the peak of your career, you were convicted and sent to prison for rape. You talk about it on your Broadway show, that you did not do. In the preface of the book you lay out the case for your innocence, including some harsh words for the judge but you also say about the judge, "The little white woman judge who sent me to prison just might have saved my life." How did she save your life?</s>TYSON: Well, I was no longer on the streets getting in trouble. I was just -- I was being very difficult. I was very difficult. I was very confused. I didn't really have a direction, even though I was still at the peak of my game. I just didn't have a direction in life. And when I went to prison, even though it wasn't like, you know, the happiest moment of my life, I learned some kind of peace. I received some kind of peace. And when I came out, I became more successful than ever before.</s>TAPPER: What did you learn about yourself in prison?</s>TYSON: That I could accomplish anything I want and I could change my mind at any time I want, and I don't have to be the person that I once was before. Not necessarily anybody, even right now, I don't have to be this person now. I can change my mind any time I want and be whatever I want to be. I don't have no glass ceilings in my world.</s>TAPPER: And yet, you came out, you still drank a lot, you still did drugs.</s>TYSON: Yes.</s>TAPPER: And you're off drugs now.</s>TYSON: Yes.</s>TAPPER: How much money do you think you spent on drugs? You were an incredibly wealthy man.</s>TYSON: I don't know. I spent enough.</s>TAPPER: Millions?</s>TYSON: I don't think I spent millions on drugs. I wouldn't be here if I spent millions on drugs. I spend some money on drugs. Most of my drugs were free, you know. But yes, I had fun with drugs.</s>TAPPER: What was the moment that you realized, God, I need to stop doing this?</s>TYSON: I just had -- I believe when my daughter died when she was 4 years old. I had a 4-year-old daughter that passed away, really mysterious freak accident, and just wanted to stop. I still didn't stop but like a month after that, two months after that, due to the power (ph) of life, it started changing my life.</s>TAPPER: Was that the worst moment of your life?</s>TYSON: Yes, the worst moment of my life, yes.</s>TAPPER: In the documentary, you talk about something Cus told you.</s>TYSON: You have to face your demons, you hear me, Mike? Because if you don't, they will follow you to eternity. And you remember, Mike, to be careful how you fight your fights, because the way you fight your fights will be the way you live your life.</s>TAPPER: Are your demons still with you?</s>TYSON: They never leave. That's why they're demons. Demons don't go anywhere. Not even when exorcism and all that stuff. People tell you it's just ridiculous. Demons stay with you for the rest of your life. It's just</s>TAPPER: Well, I wish you peace.</s>TYSON: Thank you very much.</s>TAPPER: Thanks for the interview. I appreciate it.</s>TAPPER: Our thanks to Mike Tyson. Coming up on</s>THE LEAD: in money, she's Beyonce. That's really all the publicity you're every going to need. Did her new album just change the music game all over again?