Mike Tyson in China
In December 2010, Iron Mike visited Tianjin to promote the World Boxing Organization and the Tianjin International Boxing Exhibition -- only, he didn't really know much about what he was promoting, or why he was doing it. About a month prior to the visit, Tyson had already called himself a U.S. ambassador, but the trip had no real agenda. When a reporter asked him what the itinerary looked like, he said, "Yeah, tell me. I'm pretty interested."
He didn't seem to know much about the job parameters of his self-appointed position, either. "I didn't even know what an ambassador really was," he said at the time. "When I think of ambassadors I think of living off government money and jet-setting with girlfriends."
That comment wasn't the best start to his term as unofficial ambassador, but Tyson gave it another swing. "Didn't you guys have an altercation with the Japanese people at one time?" he asked Gary Yang, an executive with Tianjin International Sports Development. "Here's what you do: You go looking for a Chinese fighter who will beat the evil Japanese guy and get revenge. That will sell."
Yang hoped Tyson could bring even greater popularity to amateur boxing in China, where Yang says the former heavyweight title-holder is "above Muhammad Ali."
Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images
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