Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson has claimed he is on the verge of dying from ongoing drug and alcohol problems.

"I wanna live my sober life. I don't wanna die. I'm on the verge of dying, because I'm a vicious alcoholic." Tyson said on ESPN's Friday Night Fights. Tyson, now a promoter, told a news conference, "I'm a bad guy sometimes. I did a lot of bad things, and I want to be forgiven.

"So in order for me to be forgiven, I hope they can forgive me. I wanna change my life, I wanna live a different life now," the former champion said.

Tyson admitted to being a continual substance abuser but was hopeful he was finally becoming clean.

"I haven't drank or took drugs in six days, and for me that's a miracle," he said.

"I've been lying to everybody else that think I was sober, but I'm not. This is my sixth day. I'm never gonna use again."

Wedding surprise

An upstate New York wedding went an extra round when boxing great Tyson just happened to stumble upon the wedding party posing for pictures.

The Observer-Dispatch of Utica reported (http://bit.ly/157FrRf ) on Saturday the Brooklyn-born boxer was crossing the lawn of the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York, as Greg and Amber Keller snapped photos with their bridesmaids and groomsmen on Friday evening.

Greg Keller says Tyson posed for photographs, congratulated the happy bride and groom on their union and was "extremely nice".

Tyson, a Hall of Famer, was in Verona for his first promotional fight card featuring boxers from his newly created "Iron Mike Productions."

The newly-married man says Tyson's surprise cameo energized the evening's celebrations.

(China Daily 08/26/2013 page23)