LAS VEGAS (USA Today) — A longtime friend of Mike Tyson said the retired heavyweight champion’s critical comments about Floyd Mayweather Jr. stem in part from Tyson being told by several people that it was Mayweather who instructed a woman in 2001 to falsely report to police that Tyson had kidnapped her and sexually assaulted her — allegations that prompted police to raid his home.
Tyson created a stir Wednesday when he showed up for the final Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao news conference at MGM Grand and called Mayweather “very delusional.”
When asked about Mayweather’s claim that Mayweather was better than Muhammad Ali, Tyson said, “He’s a very small, scared man.”
As the news conference was about to begin, when Tyson was told he could move to the front four rows of the theater, he looked in the direction of Mayweather and said, “I try to stay as far away from dirt as possible.”