LAS VEGAS ? Just call him Ambassador Iron Mike.
Mike Tyson was once the baddest man on the planet. Now he’ll be circling that planet as a self-titled ambassador to spread the gospel of boxing to the Chinese.
“I didn’t even know what an ambassador really was,” he said Thursday. “When I think of ambassadors I think of living off government money and jet-setting with girlfriends.”
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No government money just yet, though a Chinese company is paying Tyson to visit in December. No girlfriends, either, especially since his wife is due with a baby boy early next year.
And no real formal agenda just yet for his trip to China in December, either.
“I know he wants to see Chairman Mao’s body,” said Gary Yang, an executive with Tianjin International Sports Development in China.
The Chinese want to see Tyson, too, if Yang and his partner, Qing Yu, are correct. They held a news conference Thursday to announce a deal for Tyson to visit the country and scout boxers for a series of matches in the city of Tianjin.
The news seemed to be news to Tyson, too.
“Mike hasn’t been brought up to speed really,” promoter Sterling McPherson said. “But if Mike likes what he sees there can be many, many more trips to China.”
Apparently Tyson hadn’t brought the Chinese up to speed, either, because he already saw Mao’s tomb on a visit to China in 2006. Tyson has spoken fondly of Mao in the past, and has a tattoo of the former Chinese leader on his right arm.
