In this exclusive Kindle Singles Interview, Mike Tyson—the impetuous, impregnable, ferocious former heavyweight champion of the world turned pop culture icon—comes clean about the difficulties of writing his memoir, and what he left out; why it’s so hard to stay out of trouble (“I’m scared I’m going to kill somebody”); and how he narrowly avoided disaster at an F.A.O. Schwarz. Tyson, whose memoir Undisputed Truth, recently came out in paperback, opens up about his difficult childhood in Brownsville and the incident that may have changed his life forever; recently meeting his father for the first time (“I wanted to ask him questions about who I am”); and why Lance Armstrong has it even worse than he does.

The interview was conducted by Brin-Jonathan Butler, author of A Cuban Boxer’s Journey and the memoir The Domino Diaries, forthcoming from Picador USA in June 2015. Butler’s work has appeared in ESPN The Magazine, VICE, Men’s Health and Salon.