Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson spoke to the Alabama football team on Thursday night, urging players to love themselves and manage their anger in a healthy way.

"It was all an illusion," Tyson told the team, via ESPN. "I had no reason to show love to anybody. The more I hurt people, the more people loved me. The more I knocked guys out, the more I broke their ribs, broke their eye sockets, the more people loved me. So what was I to think? I hurt everybody. I hurt women. I hurt my friends. I hurt strangers. I had no concept of myself. I didn't know who I was. I was this boxer who hurt people. I always had to be 'Iron Mike.'

"You gotta love yourself before you can love one another and your teammates. There was a time I didn't love myself."

Tyson was open about his own issues that derailed his career and livelihood. The 53-year-old served three years of a six-year federal jail sentence after being convicted of rape in 1992, and he returned to the ring in 1995.

"I became a drug addict and lost all my money. Just more pain. I got in a situation where I was bankrupt. I lost $400 million. Can you imagine that (expletive)?" Tyson said.

Alabama coach Nick Saban has annually brought in guest speakers during preseason camp to talk with his team, and they typically have an emotional and meaningful story to share.

"We're all accountable," Tyson said. "But if we can't be responsible for ourselves, how can we be responsible for one another? That's what this world is about, being responsible. It took me forever to learn that."