Mike Tyson Still Remembers the Night Tupac Shakur Died

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Mike Tyson is competing with the likes of Joe Rogan in his brutally honest podcast 'Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson'. While he admits that he has been both dark and aggressive in and out of the heavyweight ring; he is now older wiser, calmer, and kinder.

As the boxing legend continues to open up about his life, criminal history, and domestic abuse of first wife Robin Givens, he provides a deeper insight to the things that haunt him while alone and with famous guests.

During an episode of his new digital series, "Safe Distance with Mike Tyson," the champ reveals some details about his connection to the tragic death of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur in 1996.

During the episode, which featured fellow New Yorker Fat Joe, Mike Tyson talked about his history of violence as a necessary part of his life growing up in New York and how it shaped his life. This fact was one at which Fat Joe attested to being true as someone from a similar background, though the violence landed them both in jail on multiple occasions.

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Fat Joe and Tyson also reminisced on the boxer's close relationship with Tupac, which Joe found to be strange given the fact that there was a rivalry between Eastcoast and Westcoast rappers during the time.

He also points out that the friendship must have been challenging for Tyson because his managers and training partners had close relationships with Shakur's ultimate rival Biggie Smalls.

Tyson admits that he never 'thought about it like that' at the time and that when Tupac was with him 'he wasn't getting [any] drama', which is something that both Fat Joe and 'Iron Mike' confirmed as a phenomenon that followed 'Pac.

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As the two legends continued to reminisce they happened upon the night of Tyson's fight with Bruce Seldon on September 7, 1996, which is the night that Tupac's life was taken while he was traveling by car on the Las Vegas strip.

Tyson revealed to Fat Joe his theory that the incident was 'planned in advance', something that he says he has never admitted to anyone. He describes his friend as an 'uncontrollable force' and that his fight was the 'opportunity for everything to happen'.

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Tyson has been fighting out of the ring to right his past wrongs for quite some time. He has dedicated his earnings to multiple philanthropic efforts including AIDS & HIV, disadvantaged youths, education, and sports. His nonprofit organization, the Marty Hennessy Inspiring Children Foundation is currently continuing operations amid the coronavirus pandemic.