Interview

MITCHELL: It’s interesting now that both the president and the head of the Republican National Committee are black.

TYSON: It’s pretty cool. But you’ve got to continue to fight. Being African-American in this country, we should always remember . . . People our age, who were born in the ’60s, were born into turmoil, and just see how far we’ve come . . . We were property at one time. I mean, what the hell do you think these people endured in order for us to live the life that we have now?

MITCHELL: It just feels like things are changing in a lot of ways, and yet a lot of things still haven’t changed. There are still a lot of racial attitudes that exist in this country that I think we’ve forgotten because there’s a black president. There is, of course, the story about Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the run-in he had with the Cambridge police . . .

TYSON: Yeah. See, in my personal opinion, I don’t think that’s something that Obama should have been involved with. [Gates] should be just like anybody else. You state your complaint, you get your supporters, and your guys march on a certain police station. I believe in that kind of stuff.

MITCHELL: Were you surprised that Obama publicly weighed in on that situation?

TYSON: I don’t know. He knows what he does. I understand. We’re all different people. Some things we just have to handle diplomatically.

MITCHELL: Is it easier for you to do that now than it used to be?

TYSON: Oh, 100 percent.

MITCHELL: Because of the state of boxing right now, you must have somebody come up to you at least once a year who wants you to get back in the ring and says, “Name the amount.”

TYSON: Yeah. I’m not interested in doing that, though. I get a lot of offers, but I’m not interested in doing that.

MITCHELL: What made you decide to walk away from boxing?

TYSON: I don’t know. I didn’t see myself going anywhere in a bright light. I was getting dark. I didn’t like the guy I was becoming . . . Boxing is an ego-driven sport. The idea is to not get too personal or emotional with it. You just know when it’s over, it’s over, and that’s it.

MITCHELL: Was it hard for you to walk away?

TYSON: It was the best thing in my life. Because I was just becoming some kind of . . . I didn’t expect that I would become what I was fighting. I became very aggressive, very confrontational. I felt like I was always onstage.

MITCHELL: Did you like being onstage?

TYSON: Yeah, it was addicting for a moment in
my life.

MITCHELL: But sometimes addicts have a tough time not falling back into their addictions. Do you ever feel sometimes that you miss that rush of fighting enough to want to try to recapture it?

TYSON: Never. I have no idea what I’m going to do, to tell you the truth. I’m just embarking on this new life that I have an opportunity to live. Everything seems to be going well, so I’m just trying to stay on track. I just want do the best at whatever I can at this stage in my life. I’m just enjoying this—being happy. I haven’t been happy in a long time. And living with responsibilities, being responsible for my actions.

MITCHELL: You had a pretty awful tragedy recently, too. [Tyson’s four-year-old daughter, Exodus, died in May.]

TYSON: Yeah . . . [pauses] I don’t even know what to say about that . . . But things happen . . . Adversity either makes the strong stronger or the weak weaker. To be weak in this world is just disastrous.

MITCHELL: What do you want to do next?

TYSON: I’m just moving forward. My life basically is just sitting down with my wife and making plans for certain things, planning out our day, planning out our life. It’s just little things that we have to do, the small things. I take everything as it comes.

MITCHELL: Do you miss the excitement and the craziness of the old days?

TYSON: Periodically, but then I know the headache that comes with it, and I don’t want to deal with that. I don’t want to deal with the hangover.

Elvis Mitchell is Interview’s special correspondent.

Photo credits: Fragrance: CK FREE by Calvin Klein. Grooming: Ibn Jasper. Production: Kyd Kisvarday/NORTH6. Stylist assistants: Karen Kaiser and Elin Svahn.