TEARS OF JOY
Rare footage emerges of Mike Tyson celebrating his win with Tupac hours before the rapper was gunned down in Las Vegas
RARE footage has emerged showing Tupac Shakur and Mike Tyson embracing hours before the rapper was infamously gunned down in Las Vegas.
The clip was recorded just minutes after Iron Mike left the ring following a dramatic victory over Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand on September 7, 1996.
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Tyson stopped his rival in the first round to capture the WBA heavyweight world title and Tupac was among the first to congratulate him.
The close friends were seen tearfully embracing alongside Death Row Records boss Suge Knight on a clip shared by
Tyson then hugs burly Knight - who towers over the hard-hitting fighter.
The images were captured before Tupac and his crew - some with links to LA street gang the Bloods - attacked Orlando 'Baby Lane' Anderson in the casino-hotel.
It was a brawl some believe ultimately led to the much-loved rapper's shocking death.
Just hours later he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting as he headed to a gig at Club 662 in Sin City.
Knight was driving a black BMW and Tupac was in the front seat when they were targeted by a mystery gunman in a suspected revenge hit.
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A shooter in a white Cadillac, which pulled up on the right-hand passenger side of Tupac's car opened fire.
The rapper was hit four times - in the chest, arm and thigh - and died six days later.
Tyson and Tupac were close friends in the 1990s and the boxer received prison visits from the chart star while behind bars following his conviction for rape in 1992.
He was assigned to the Indiana Youth Center, where he would regularly be visited by celebrities.
But Tyson revealed recently the most respected guest that came to see him was the hip hop legend.
He told rapper TI: “The guards didn’t like him, the inmates got rowdy and pumped up when he came which is a safety concern.
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";He was a bolt of energy there. When he came in everybody knew him, he had mad respect. That’s how he lived his life, he had mad respect."
Shakur himself served time for sexual assault after being convicted during a showcase trial in 1994.
Tyson returned to the ring in 1995 after his release, with his comeback fight against Peter McNeeley grossing £79million worldwide and selling a then record 1.52m PPV's, equating to £51m.
Just a year later he beat Frank Bruno to win the WBC title, but then lost to Evander Holyfield before infamously biting his ear in their 1997 rematch.
Tyson retired in 2005 after losing to Kevin McBride and left the sport with a record of 50–6-2 and remains one of the most celebrated heavyweights of all time.
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But the 53-year-old, once known as the "Baddest Man on the Planet" recently shocked fans after announcing he would make a comeback, 15 years since his last fight, to compete in charity exhibition bouts.
Despite being offered a trilogy bout against 57-year-old Holyfield, who also plans to make a return, Tyson is said to have agreed a fight with Shannon Briggs.
Briggs, 48, claimed the fight was "confirmed" with the pair set to box in an exhibition.
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