CHINA> Center
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CHINA> Center
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Tyson visits Mao Zedong memorial hall in Beijing
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-04-02 17:34 Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson paid respects to one of his greatest heroes by visiting waxen revolutionary Mao Zedong on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, state press says.
Tyson, on a promotional visit to China, visited the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall on Saturday where the embalmed remains of the revolutionary leader lie in state, the Beijing Times said. "I felt really insignificant next to the remains of Chairman Mao, this is a great honor to be able to visit the memorial hall," the paper quoted Tyson as saying. Tyson, wearing a shirt with the picture of NBA center Shaquille O'Neal, quickly left the crowded hall after purchasing several books on Mao, shouting "I love you" to Chinese onlookers, the paper said. An arm tattoo of the revolutionary dictator became one of Tyson's hallmarks as he pummeled his way through opponents in a career interspersed with frequent run-ins with the law. He became the youngest champion in heavyweight history when he took the title aged 20 in 1986 but retired in June last year with his career battered and bruised by a string of indiscretions in and out of the ring. While serving a prison sentence in the 1990s for rape, Tyson claimed that he read Mao's selected works and expressed admiration for the man. Tyson, 39, arrived in Shanghai Thursday to promote a new nightclub in which he was also due to receive an honorary citizenship of the city's Luo Dian district, the state-run China Daily newspaper said earlier. But the decision was overturned after local government chiefs took a closer look at his past, including his rape sentence and various assault convictions, the paper said. |
