Boxing: Tyson admits 'cry for help' as bizarre exile is finally ended

Mike Tyson's 12-day exile from the business of boxing ended yesterday afternoon at a press conference in a casino complex in Tunica, Mississippi.

Tyson's fight tomorrow night against Clifford Etienne at the Pyramid Arena in nearby Memphis, was in doubt last week when Tyson walked out of the gym and went missing. There were rumours of illness and confusion in a troubled boxer's life. On Monday the fight was postponed because he was suffering from flu-like symptoms, but on Tuesday the fight was miraculously back on.

"They [the cable television company Showtime] offered to give me more money and that made me get better real quick," admitted Tyson, whose advance for the fight was slashed from $5m (£3.1m) to $1.7m (£1m) on the day he went missing. "If I didn't get the offer I could have been sick again rapidly."

The news was not a shock to most boxing insiders because this type of thing has happened in Tyson's life before, but it was the rest of what he said yesterday during a 15-minute outpouring that was disturbing.

"Most of what I do is just a cry for help and it has been that way since I was young. There comes a time when I feel like I hit a wall and that is when I do stupid things," continued Tyson, who appeared with his new Maori tattoo surrounding his left eye.

"I've been a bad guy, an adulterer, but I just hope my children can contribute something to society," he added. "I am Mike Tyson and I am the attraction. I have to live with that every day and I don't need anybody to make money. I'm a boxer, the other boxers need me."

Tyson looked out of shape when sparring four rounds with Stan Allen yesterday, doing nothing to reassure his camp that he was ready for the bout. Freddie Roach, his trainer, who told Tyson he was not ready to fight after acquiring a tattoo and missing a week's training in Las Vegas, said the workout with Allen "went well". But he did not try to hide the fact that Tyson was short of conditioning after breaking training and reportedly spending days in bed with flu-like symptoms.

Tyson was apparently so tired at the end of the workout, that Roach said he did not want to push him "to make him sick again." Besides sparring with Allen, Tyson worked six rounds on the speed bag, perhaps the least strenuous activity in the gym.