Mike Tyson has admitted that he will vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming US presidential election. And he didn't like being asked about it.
The former world heavyweight champion is set to fight YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on 15 November, just 10 days after Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris will contest the general election.
In 2020, Tyson was able to vote for the first time since his 1992 conviction and three-year imprisonment for rape after his home state, Nevada, passed legislation allowing convicted felons the right to vote.
But even before being allowed to participate in presidential elections, he publicly backed Trump to assume America's highest office back in 2016, claiming he was "voting" for the Republican candidate.
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"When I see him, he shakes my hand and respects my family," he said in an interview with The Daily Caller ahead of the 2016 election. "None of them – Barack [Obama], whoever – nobody else does that. They’re gonna be who they are and disregard me, my family.
“So I’m voting for him. If I can get 200,000 people or more to vote for him, I’m gonna do it.
"We’re really good friends. We go back to ’86, ’87. Most of my successful and best fights were at Trump’s hotels. He didn’t manage me, though. He was just helping me with my court case.”
More recently, Tyson was asked who he plans to vote for in the 2020 ballot during a guest appearance on the podcast. And he didn't take kindly to the question.
"I'm voting for Trump," he snapped. "So what's somebody going to do about it?
"I like Donald Trump and I'm gonna vote for him. So what?
"What are you gonna do? Shoot me? Beat me up?"
And earlier this year, Tyson publicly empathised with Trump when the former president was facing multiple criminal charges.
“The way they were treating him in the papers and in the press? Think about that, the way they treat him in court? That’s the way they did black people,” Tyson said in an interview with Semafor.
Topics: Mike Tyson, Boxing, Jake Paul
Ryan Baldi