Mike Tyson was honored in the ring as a heavyweight icon and then proceeded to sit ringside to watch the rematch between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder on Feb. 22 in Las Vegas.

Tyson said the one-sided victory for the British boxer was a result of Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) failing to show up to the grand occasion against the newly crowned WBC champion Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs).

“The first fight, [Wilder] fought with confidence like he could win. In this fight, he fought like he didn’t have no zest, no life in him. I don’t think he was the same fighter after the first fight,” Tyson said on an Instagram Live session as musician Fat Joe lobbed questions at him.

“After the first fight, [Widler] couldn’t rise to the occasion again. No, there’s always a chance. Everyone always has a chance. It depends on how much he wants to give in to it. Does he want to dedicate his life to really winning the fight, then anything can happen.

“[Wilder] feels like giving up, ‘Oh, my life is over. I’ve made $90 million dollars. My life is over.’ Oh God, I want to die.’ Grow up. Keep going through it until it’s really over. Well, listen, he didn’t fight the same fight as he fought the first fight.”

Leading up to the rematch, many comparisons were made that Wilder had surpassed Tyson as the hardest-hitting heavyweight puncher in boxing history. Iron Mike believes the Alabamian boxer needs to refine his game plan in order to beat his conqueror in a third match slated for this October.

“Something went wrong with Wilder during the second fight with Fury, and he never did adjust,” said Tyson. “If Wilder can’t fix the mistakes he made in his rematch with Fury, then he’s not going to last long in the third fight. But he will make a lot of money, so it’s not all bad.

“Wilder can still make a lot of money. He shouldn’t feel sad or discouraged. And he should continue to go out there and fight with a lot of zest and confidence.”

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the LA Times, Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com.