HAMPTON, Va. -- There is no other way to say it than to state the obvious: Mike Tyson is a fighting icon.
Bearing witness to the crowds that flocked to him at Embassy Suites Hampton Roads Hotel and the Hampton Coliseum this past weekend (Feb. 6, 2015) at GLORY 19 ... it is a sight unlike any other.
Fight fans, mixed with random lodgers, mobbed the former Heavyweight boxing champion for autographs, handshakes and pictures. And Tyson was always accommodating, although his security guard was always within arms distance to move things along and usher "Iron" Mike to the gym, out the front entrance of the hotel, or ringside before the GLORY 19 main event, where he was absolutely mobbed by fans.
Tyson, who was a part of the GLORY 19 "Countdown" show on Spike TV, shared his in-fight analysis of the main event between heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven and Errol Zimmerman when ringside announcers Mauro Ranallo and Stephen Quadros had a break in action.
The boxing legend was also part of the post-fight activities and a special guest at the post-fight press conference.
MMAmania.com asked him if sitting ringside to watch two heavyweights go at it brought back memories of his time in the ring.
"It's a blur ... my career is a blur," he said, which brought laughter to the room. "I don't remember too much. Fighting is awesome because you don't know what is going to happen next. You just know something bad is going to happen. Fighting imitates life. We have quagmires. We have adversities in life ... just like in fighting."
Tyson used Verhoeven -- who said it was "amazing to have the chance" to fight in front of him -- as an example.
"Verhoeven got knocked out before by Zimmerman, but he didn't give up and he didn't get discouraged," said Tyson, who later mentioned Joe Schilling's win over Robert Thomas was his favorite fight on the GLORY 19 card (read full recap here). "He came back and fought five more fights, and his confidence got extreme and then he won the next time (the rematch with Zimmerman). In this fight he was pretty much dominating the fight. When he kicked him and they called it a slip, that was really a knockdown.
"Life isn't over after a defeat. You just don't get discouraged. Life is pretty much over when you get discouraged. But, if you don't get discouraged and you look it as a business and this is what happens, we are in the hurt business and in this business sometimes we get hurt. Sometimes we lose, but that doesn't mean that it is the end of our life. You are not dead. We learn from our losses and continue to train and train with more vigor and most of the time we can overcome adversity."
Tyson commanded full attention whenever he spoke and received high praise from all the fighters up on the dais. At the post-fight presser's conclusion, the situation reverted back to how it was prior.
Only this time it was friends and family of the fighters and GLORY who were mobbing the champion inside the room and waiting outside the door for autographs and pictures with the former champion.