Mike Tyson doubts if his rage `will ever be gone`

London: Mike Tyson, who has gone from boxing world’s wild child to a devoted family man, has admitted that he still has to work on his temper.

The former boxing champion said that he wanted people to show him some respect. “What the ---- is this bull----? Eyes on mine”, Mike Tyson slams his fist down on the leather sofa. Then he smiles – a smile that travels slowly up from those sadistic-looking incisors to the flames tattooed over his left eye. “That was what I was like back then. I had this rage inside and suddenly I’d lose it,” a leading daily quoted him as saying in an interview. “But I couldn’t be a nice guy and accomplish what I accomplished. I wanted the people who got in the ring with me to think they were dealing with a savage. I wanted them to show me some respect,” he said. Tyson bit off Evander Holyfield’s earlobe and attempted to break both Francois Botha’s arms during a fight. He is a convicted rapist; he has Mao’s face tattooed on his right bicep. But talking to those who know him best, he is a changed man: a devoted husband and father of eight who, at 45, has been sober for over three years. “It’s about control. Every day, it’s about control,” Tyson says, his lisp giving him a curiously childlike air. “Although I don’t think the rage will ever be gone, I do know that I don’t want to get into trouble any more." “I want my wife and children to respect me. I want to build a healthy, functional foundation for us and the kids,” he added. ANI