Former heavyweight champion stunned a teenage girl on Thursday after she lobbed him an easy feel-good question — only to get a shockingly bleak response about death and eternal nothingness.
Tyson, 58, was doing media ahead of with in a bout that’ll be streamed on .
When 14-year-old, the young journalist behind , asked what kind of “legacy” he hopes to leave behind, the unflinching Tyson explained how fleeting and seemingly meaningless strolling this planet could be.
“I don’t believe in the word ‘legacy.’ I think that’s another word for ego. Legacy doesn’t mean nothing. That’s just some word everybody grabbed on to. Someone said that word and everyone grabbed on to that word, now it’s used every five seconds,” Tyson said in an interview that posted on Thursday.
“It means absolutely nothing to me. I’m just passing through. I’m gonna die and it’s gonna be over. Who cares about legacy after that?”
After a brief awkward pause, Iron Mike continued with his crushingly existential musings.
“So I’m gonna die. I want people to think that I’m this, I’m great?” he continued. “No, we’re nothing. We’re just dead. We’re dust. We’re absolutely nothing. Our legacy is nothing.”
The teen interviewer appeared to be briefly surprised by Tyson’s tough look at life. But she kept her composure, didn’t break stride and thanked the champ for his wisdom.
“Well thank you so much for sharing that,” she said. “That is something that I have not heard before.”
Tyson wouldn’t let up and kept hammering home that all of humanity is just running out the clock.
“Can you really imagine somebody saying, ‘I want my legacy to be this way?’ You’re dead!” Tyson said. “Who the f— cares about me when I’m gone? My kids, maybe, or grand kids?”
Tyson, 58, and YouTube personality Jake Paul in a bout that’ll be streamed on .
