10 Surprising Facts About Mike Tyson

Born on June 30, 1966, Mike Tyson came from an impoverished family and quite early in his life took to the streets and petty crime. Despite that, his passion for boxing led him to become the most revered and feared heavyweight boxing champion from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Also famous for his quotable interviews and insults, Tyson earned a few nicknames like “Iron” Mike, “Kid Dynamite”, and “The Baddest Man on the Planet.” Here are some more interesting facts about Mike Tyson.

1. When Mike Tyson was two years old, his father left the family which led to financial crisis. He also has an elder brother, Rodney, and an elder sister, Denise, who died in 1990.

Tyson’s mother was Lorna Mae (Smith) Tyson, and his biological father, as listed on his birth certificate, is Purcell Tyson. His mother later married Jimmy Kirkpatrick who had previously married and had a son. Kirkpatrick was one of the top baseball players in North Carolina before moving to Brooklyn where he met Tyson’s mother. He gambled and hung out on the streets and eventually left the family leaving Tyson’s mother alone to bring up Mike, his brother, and sister who died of heart attack in February 1990.

2. Mike Tyson’s first fight was at the age of eight with an older boy who tore off one of his pigeon’s head and threw it at him.

Being a timid, pudgy kid with lisp and glasses, Tyson was often picked on by bullies on his way to school. One day while leaving for home at lunchtime with meatballs wrapped in aluminum foil, the bullies started robbing him. When Tyson refused to give up his money, they searched him and took the money. Then they tried to take the meatballs, but he shielded them. So, they started hitting him and put his glasses down the gas tank of a truck. Tyson never went back to school after that incident.

In 1974, he was taken in by a man who would introduce him as his “son” and take him out for robberies. After robbing a house, Tyson received his share of $600 which he used to buy pigeons worth $100. Later, a guy found out about the birds and came to his house to steal the birds. When Tyson protested, he tore off a bird’s head and smeared the blood on his face. Until then, Tyson had been afraid to fight, but he fought this guy and beat him using the boxing moves he learned watching another boxer.

3. Mike Tyson was arrested 38 times by the time he turned 13.

Tyson frequently got into fights with those who teased him about his lisp and continued committing petty crimes. He was arrested several times for possession of stolen property. After exhausting all other options in New York City, he was sent to the Tryon School for Boys, a juvenile prison northwest of Albany, New York. There he got into a fight and was again sent to Elmwood where he noticed some of the other kids earned credits taking boxing classes on the weekends.

Bobby Stewart, a former boxer and juvenile detention center counselor, saw him and promised to teach him boxing if he “straightened up his act.” After some training, Stewart saw Tyson’s potential and introduced him to Cus D’Amato who would later become his father figure and trainer until his death in November 1985.(1, 2)

4. At the age of 14, Tyson saw Muhammad Ali lose to Larry Holmes in Ali’s last match. Tyson then called Ali and said, “I’ll grow up and get him back for you.” Seven years later Tyson beat Holmes.

On October 2, 1980, Tyson’s trainer Cus D’Amato took him to watch Muhammad Ali’s final match with Larry Holmes. They were so upset by Holmes’ victory over Ali that the next day D’Amato got on the phone with him and said, “I have this young Black kid who is going to be the heavyweight champion someday, and I want you to talk to him.” Tyson then told Ali, “When I grow up, I’ll fight Holmes and I’ll get him back for you.” Seven years later, when Tyson met Holmes, Ali, who was a guest at the fight, came to him and said, “Remember what you said – get him for me.” Tyson got Holmes in the fourth round.

5. At the age of 15, he won his first gold medals at the 1981 and 1982 Junior Olympic Games and holds the Junior Olympic record for the quickest knockout (8 seconds).

As an amateur, Tyson won his first gold medal at the 1981 Junior Olympic Games against Joe Cortez, and another gold in 1982 against Kelton Brown. Tyson won every bout during the games by knockout, and during his match with Brown, he won in the first round. Three years later, on March 6, Tyson made his first professional debut, and within a year he won 26 of his first 28 fights, 16 of which were during the first round.

6. Though he dropped out of junior high school, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Central State University in 1989.

According to the then president of Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, they developed a special academic program for Tyson which would be equivalent to a diploma. The university officials believed that as several young people looked up to Tyson, seeing him study would inspire them to make education a priority.(1, 2)

7. Tyson was addicted to coke and alcohol and used to get high before his major fights. He would use a fake penis with another person’s urine to avoid detection.

Tyson first tried cocaine when he was 11 years old. He admitted that he was taking drugs before entering some matches and was high before his match against Lou Savarese in Glasgow in 2000. He said that the reason he was caught that time and given a fine of $200,000 for testing positive for marijuana was because he didn’t get the chance to put his “whizzer” on. A “whizzer,” as he called it, was a fake penis filled with the urine of another person that one of his team members carried for him.

8. Tyson abstained from sex for five years during his rise as a boxing champion because he believed that sex before a fight would make him a weak boxer.

During an interview, Tyson attributed his sexual abstinence to not knowing enough during his younger years. He said that he believed what others had said and chose to stay away from sex. It happened between 1981 and 1986, during the time of his career when he was slugging his way towards becoming a successful boxer.

9. Tyson once offered a zoo attendant $10,000 to open the cage of a bullying gorilla so that he could “smash that silverback’s snotbox.” That offer, however, was declined.

When he was married to Robin Givens, he paid a worker to reopen a New York zoo for them. While walking through the zoo, he came across a gorilla cage in which a large silverback was bullying all the other gorillas. So, he offered the attendant $10,000 to open the cage so that he could have a fight with the alpha gorilla, which, of course, was declined.

10. On June 11, 2005, Tyson announced to the boxing world that he was quitting before the seventh round against Kevin McBride because he was fed up with taking boxing seriously.

By 2005, Tyson was having problems with his career and finances. In August 2003, after experiencing financial difficulties, he filed for bankruptcy and at times it was impossible to participate in matches because of the previous charges on him. After announcing his retirement before the start of the seventh round with Kevin McBride, he said that he only fought him for a payday and wasn’t expecting to win. He also stated that he was in a physically poor condition and that he was quitting because he was fed up with taking boxing seriously and lost his passion for the sport.