Rare footage emerges of Mike Tyson and Tupac just hours before rapper's death

Deontay Wilder v Tyson Fury - WBC Heavyweight Title - The Grand Garden Arena at MGM Grand, Las Vegas, United States - February 22, 2020 Former boxer Mike Tyson before the fight REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File Photo

Rare footage has emerged in which Mike Tyson embraces Tupac Shakur just hours before the rap legend was shot dead in Las Vegas.

The video shows Tyson in the minutes after his TKO victory over Bruce Seldon at legendary boxing venue the MGM Grand Garden Arena on 7 September 1996.

'Iron Mike' dominated Sheldon to a first-round stoppage to clinch the WBA heavyweight championship and celebrated with Tupac in the immediate aftermath.

The close friends embraced alongside Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight in a clip shared by Gloves Up Global's Instagram page.

The footage, showing Tyson then hug Knight, was taken before Tupac and his posse - some of whom had links to Los Angeles gang the Bloods - attacked Orlando 'Baby Lane' Anderson from their rival Crips gang

Rare footage has emerged in which Mike Tyson embraces Tupac Shakur just hours before the rap legend was shot dead in Las Vegas [COURTESY]

Tupac was gunned down in a drive-by shooting just hours after the brawl, with Anderson the main suspect in the resulting murder investigation.

Knight was driving with Tupac in the front seat when an unknown gunman pulled up alongside the pair and opened fire.

While Knight survived, Tupac was struck by four bullets and died six days after the shooting.

Tyson and Tupac were close friends in the years leading up to the incident, and the latter visited the heavyweight icon while he was in prison after a rape conviction in 1992.

Many celebrities went to see Tyson while he was behind bars at the Indiana Youth Center, but he recalled Tupac had the biggest impact on his fellow inmates.

"The guards didn’t like him, the inmates got rowdy and pumped up when he came which is a safety concern," Tyson told rapper TI.

Tyson hugs Tupac [COURTESY]

"He was a bolt of energy there. When he came in everybody knew him, he had mad respect. That’s how he lived his life, he had mad respect."

Tyson lost his two next fights after Tupac's death - both to Evander Holyfield - and fought another 10 more times before retiring in 2005.

But the heavyweight icon is widely mooted to come out of retirement this year and face his old rival in a trilogy fight later this year.