Mike Tyson feels 'guilty' over Tupac death as he ‘pressured him’ to watch Vegas fight where rapper was killed
Boxing legend Mike Tyson has revealed that he feels "guilty" about late rapper Tupac Shakur's death after the boxer "pressured" him to come to Las Vegas to watch him fight a match. Tyson said that he was the one who had urged the rapper to come see him take on Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand on September 7, 1996. Hours after Tyson won the first round against his rival, Tupac was shot dead in a drive-by shooting as he was headed to a gig at Club 662 in Sin City. A mystery gunman targeted Tupac and rap mogul Suge Knight, who was in a black BMW next to the rapper, in a suspected revenge hit.
Tyson, during his interview with VladTV, also revealed that he was set to meet with his friend at the nightspot but he eventually stayed in to look after his newborn at the time. When boxer Zab Judah asked the former heavyweight champion during the interview about how he felt after hearing Tupac had been killed, Tyson said it was a "very bad day" for him.
"It was a really bad day when that happened....it was really bad. I felt a little guilty about him coming to the fight....me pressuring him (saying) 'hey you wanna bring the tape, don't forget the tape,'" Tyson said referring to the customized music he had asked from the rapper to be used for his entrance to the boxing ring. "I was going to go out with him that night. I promised to go with him to the 662. But I had just had a little baby and her mother provoked me to stay at home."
"Someone called me that night and told me what happened....and I come to me senses. This is what happens in my world...that was part of my world," Tyson continued. "But just because it was Tupac and I was attached to it, it was different. I expect someone to die after a fight or somebody to get hurt or something crazy to happen but when it happened to him at was different."
Tupac was reportedly involved in a fight the night Tyson stepped into the ring in Vegas. Reports state that the rapper and his crew, some of which had links to Los Angeles street gang the Bloods, attacked rival Orlando 'Baby Lane' Anderson in the casino-hotel. Many believe that it was this brawl that led to Tupac's tragic death.
The legendary boxer and the popular rapper were close friends in the 1990s. Tupac even visited Tyson when the latter was in prison following his rape conviction in 1992. The boxer was assigned to the Indiana Youth Center, where he was frequently visited by celebrities. Tyson, however, recently revealed that the most respected guest who came to visit him was Tupac.
He said: "The guards didn’t like him, the inmates got rowdy and pumped up when he came which is a safety concern. He was a bolt of energy there. When he came in everybody knew him, he had mad respect. That’s how he lived his life, he had mad respect." The rapper also serves prison time for sexual assault after he was convicted during a showcase trial in 1994.