Former boxing champion Mike Tyson has blamed his busy schedule and a return to his childhood home for his alcohol addiction after four years of sobriety.

The sports icon hit headlines earlier this month (Aug13) when he tearfully admitted to being a 'vicious alcoholic on the verge of dying' in a press conference, and in an interview on U.S. breakfast show Today this week (ends23Aug13), Tyson revealed once he started drinking again, the situation got out of control fast.

He said, "I haven't drank for four-and-a-half years and I took a drink and I just started chugging them."

Tyson attributes his latest setback in sobriety to too much going on in his life at one time.

He continues, "Too much stuff coming at me. I had my auto-documentary, everything just started creeping up on me. I started going to my old neighbourhood. I started dealing with old wounds that opened up and it was just overwhelming."

The former boxer also insists he is reaching out publicly for help for himself and not for the benefit of anyone else.

He says, "I have to say sorry to myself, not to people. I'm not doing this interview to try to help an alcoholic or a drug addict, I'm doing this to help me, this is my own little self-centred move. I need help real bad because I won't survive if I don't get help."