<p id=”par-1_31″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/mike-tyson/”>Mike Tyson</a> amassed <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/mike-tyson-net-worth-how-much-is-the-former-boxer-worth.html/”>a lot of wealth</a> and success during his legendary boxing career. Despite his accomplishments, however, Tyson didn’t feel like he was truly living until later on in life.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-why-mike-tyson-felt-like-his-whole-life-was-a-waste”>Why Mike Tyson felt like his whole life was a waste</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Mike-Tyson-Age-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Mike Tyson posing at a press conference wearing a black jacket.” class=”wp-image-3679743″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Mike Tyson | Nicolò Campo/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-2_42″>At the height of Tyson’s career, he was worth $400 million. But he’s asserted that he didn’t have the maturity required to manage his wealth at the time. This eventually led to Tyson filing for bankruptcy, and <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/mike-tyson-owed-60-million-in-debt-heres-his-secret-to-how-he-turned-things-around.html/”>being $60 million in debt</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-3_44″>The sports star may not be as wealthy as he once was, but he considered himself to be in a much better place. So much so that when he reflected on his life, he felt he only truly hit his stride in his 40s.</p>
<p id=”par-4_64″>“The first stage of my life was just a whole bunch of selfishness. Just a whole bunch of gifts to myself and people who didn’t necessarily deserve it. Now I’m 44, and I realise that my whole life is just a f**king waste. ‘Greatest man on the planet’? I wasn’t half the man I thought I was,” Tyson once told <em>Details </em>(via <a href=”https://www.contactmusic.com/mike-tyson/news/tyson-my-whole-life-is-a-waste_1152572″>Contact Music</a>).</p>
<p id=”par-5_24″>Tyson felt a more fulfilling way to spend his life was to make amends for the mistakes he believed he committed in his youth.</p>
<p id=”par-6_54″>“So if there’s a big plan now, it’s just to give – it’s selflessness, caring for the people who deserve it. Because I think I’m a pig. I have this uncanny ability to look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘This is a pig. You are a f***ing piece of s**t,” he said.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-mike-tyson-called-the-money-he-made-paper-blood”>Mike Tyson called the money he made ‘paper blood’</h2>
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<p id=”par-7_81″>Tyson asserted that he didn’t miss much about his past life, including the money he used to make. Over the years, Tyson made the transition over to <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/mike-tyson-wanted-play-shakespeare-character.html/”>the world of entertainment</a>. He’s appeared in a few movies and television shows. Currently, he’s the host of a popular podcast <em>Hotboxin With Mike Tyson</em>, where he interviews several celebrities. He acknowledged that he wouldn’t be in his current position without his background as a fighter. But he enjoyed his current occupations much more.</p>
<p id=”par-8_150″>“Because when you really think about it at the height of my career I’m making 30-40 million a fight, doing what I want, anybody I want to see or meet, I see him on television, see them and like them, I make a phone call, meet anybody, do what I want to do,” Tyson once told <a href=”https://www.euronews.com/2014/10/14/mike-tyson-you-learn-humbleness-when-you-get-older-in-life”>Euro News</a>, “But I didn’t have any peace. You know, I didn’t have peace. Now I’m not even at the height of my career, I don’t make a tenth of the money that I made then, and I have cartoons, I have shows, I could never have accomplished this when I was fighting. I would never have gotten along with the producer, I would’ve been arrogant. You learn humbleness when you get older in life. You learn that if you don’t become in humble in this world, the world will thrust humbleness upon you.”</p>
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<p id=”par-9_42″>In his younger years, he may have considered himself arrogant, but he felt a large part of that arrogance came from his enormous wealth. Tyson believed many might’ve had the same reaction to earning so much so young in such short time.</p>
<p id=”par-10_29″>“It just comes down to, I don’t know, what people really are. And money is like paper blood to people. So there’s always going to be corruption,” he said.</p>