I’m the guy Americans want to kill most — Tyson

Tyson meets British champion Julius Francis on Saturday in a fight scheduled for 10 three-minute rounds but unlikely, according to bookmakers, to go beyond two.

In an interview with Sky TV on Tuesday, Tyson talked about killing his opponent — before adding that he hoped Francis gets up again if he is knocked out.

“I think I’m going to kill Julius Francis. I’m ready for this fight and I want it bad,” he said.

When the interviewer suggested the American meant he intended to knock his opponentout rather than kill him, Tyson responded, “well, I hope he gets up if he gets knocked out but that’s just the motivation I have. I just want to fight and do well.”

The comment will do little to calm emotions around the contest, with the controversial Tyson appearing in England only after attempts to have him barred from the country because of his rape conviction failed.

But the American, who was having one final work-out in his luxury London hotel before heading for Manchester, has promised to obey the rules.

“Listen, if it gets down and dirty, I hope he gets disqualified,” said Tyson. “I’m sure he’s (Francis) a respectable man, he’s a Brit and most of them are. And I’m pretty much of a level-headed cat if you don’t push me too hard. I’m sure it’ll be alright.”

Tyson said his children — he has four — were his motivation at this late stage in his career: “I’ve got children to raise and I want them to have a good life.

“I don’t want them to have a life like me. I want them to be respectedin society and I’ve tried really hard to be careful of my conduct because I don’t want it to be a shadow over their lives,” the 33-year-old said.

He tried to explain that the boxer and the man were two different people.

“To my wife and children I’m Mike and daddy, but I’m Tyson here, just a freak who generates a ton of money.

“Collectively, the only thing people care about is the Tyson who is going to put on this freak show in Manchester. No one cares about Michael personally. Where I come from I’m the piece of gum on the bottom of your shoe.”

Tyson said he felt in great shape, like he had in his teenage years before he became the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history.

“Now my life is coming out and I’m doing things and I’m making tonnes of money and all that stuff is coming about.

“Now my kids have got a chance to spend that money and theycan do whatever they like with it — they can be bums, they can throw it away, they can go to college, they can invest it.”

He denied that hehad squandered his talents.

“I’m still fighting. I’m still here,” he said. “Listen, what I’ve been through I should be a nut. I should be in the corner picking up cans or something like that.

“I look at myself and I say: `God, I was just 18 years old, a young millionaire, running around not thinking about anything. Now everything is responsibilities, responsibilities.”

Asked about a likely meeting with Britain’s undisputed World champion Lennox Lewis, Tyson said: “when I do meet Lewis I will knock him out. I’m better, I’m at the top of my game.”

Tyson felt such a meeting might not be too far ahead. “Maybe at the end of the year, three or four more fights.”

The American was less certain about how long his career in the ring would continue. “Sometimes I wake up and I want to stop tomorrow and sometimes I wake up and I want to go on for 20 more years. It depends on what kind of frame of mind I’m in,” he said.