Mike Tyson weighs in on Floyd Mayweather, Tupac and Buzz Aldrin

By Las Vegas Sun Staff (contact)

Tuesday, July 8, 2014 | 1:08 p.m.

Henderson resident and former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson took to social media today, answering questions in an ask-me-anything (AMA) session on Reddit.

Now a fight promoter with Iron Mike Productions, Tyson is hyping a Thursday night card in Miami.

In addition to talking about his newest venture, Tyson weighed in on the state of boxing in general, Floyd Mayweather, mixed martial arts, biting in the heat of the moment, rapper Tupac Shakur and former astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

Here’s a sampling of Redditors' questions and Tyson’s answers:

What is your opinion on the current state of heavyweight boxing (or boxing in general), is it in a good place or not? ?

It is not as good as it could be. I think once promoters start putting their fighters in fights they might lose, it will bring out the best in boxing. The sport has to improve at giving the fans what they want. Too many promoters promote fighters, but I want to promote boxing.

My fighter (Argenis) Mendez might lose on Thursday night, but I want to give boxing fans good entertaining boxing. As long as the fans are entertained I am happy.

What are your thoughts on (boxing adviser) Al Haymon and how he "protects" his fighters?

Anyone in this business knows you have to match your fighters smart, sometimes people see this as "protecting" them. I am not into that politics of the game, if that is what he does. I am worried about Iron Mike Productions!

I am a promoter as well and if you watch the last fight for my boxer Mendez, you'll see that he was hit after the bell. I believe in fighting for your fighters - I fought to get the belt back for him and this upcoming rematch Thursday night. You have to protect your fighters.

I don't talk negative about anyone, I just want to the best fighters fight the best fighters in the world.

Why do you love MMA so much? ?

Because it is real raw and exciting.

There's a lot of talk that Wladimir Klitschko has been reigning heavyweight champ for so long because there aren't any good heavyweight fighters left. Do you think this is the case or do you think Klitschko would still have been a formidable heavyweight champion even in the golden age? ?

I think he would have done well in any era.

It seems like a lot of people also question the legitimacy of Floyd Mayweather's undefeated record, accusing him of cherry-picking his fights, what's your opinion on him?

Floyd, I don't know. He has beaten everyone he has fought. He is the cream of the crop. I would love to see him fight Pacquiao though.

Mike could you explain the face tattoo for us?

It is the Maui symbol from the ancient native warriors.

As a former professional athlete that was suspended from boxing after your biting incident, what are your thoughts on Luis Suarez getting suspended from the World Cup for his habit of biting opponents? What drives highly competitive athletes to bite? Is it all instinct? Intimidation? Do you think he got what he should have, with regards to suspension (he's done it THREE times)?

I think it is just the heat of the moment, really hot blooded and really competitive. The heat of the moment takes over us, we are really competitive and lose bad judgment in our thinking. Sometimes you can just become highly frustrated.

What are some of the most important things that you've learned in life?

You have to be humble in life, and if you are not humble, life will make you humble.

How close were you with Tupac? What's your favorite memory of him?

He was a really good guy, really nice guy, really close good friend of mine. Favorite memory was when I saw him in a club and he got on the mic and really took over the party - he was 19 years old then.

Do you think you can beat Buzz Aldrin's AMA that is running in parallel?

I probably won't... I have never gone to the moon. If Buzz had got into the ring with me I could have sent him to the moon without the rocket ship.