Mike Tyson said he once knocked out a garbage man for throwing away one of his pet pigeons that had died

• Mike Tyson is a former heavyweight champion and “baddest man on the planet.” He’s also a noted pigeon enthusiast.
• Tyson has said he got into his first fight because of a bird. A neighborhood bully apparently smacked Tyson, pulled the head off one of his pigeons, then threw the blood at him.
• Tyson started swinging at the bully, beating him in his first fistfight. “I won, I guess,” he said.
• But that wasn’t the only time he got into a fight because of a bird – he also knocked out a garbage man because he threw away a dead pigeon Tyson wanted to honor. “He was out cold, convulsing on the floor,” he said, according to TalkSPORT.
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Most people know Mike Tyson as the youngest heavyweight champion of all time, because he knocked out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds at age 20 in 1988. But he is also a noted pigeon enthusiast.

Ever since Tyson was a kid, he’s always loved pigeons. A pigeon was even the cause of his first fistfight.

Tyson told friends about pigeons he had in his living room. Those friends told other people in the neighborhood, and they all visited him “to steal the birds,” Tyson said. He begged one guy to “please give me my bird.” The guy apparently punched Tyson, ripped the bird’s head off, then threw the blood at him.

Source: “In Depth with Graham Bensinger”

Tyson’s friend said, “Mike, fight him! Don’t be afraid.” So he did. “I was just flailing away, and I guess I hit him more than he hit me, so I won, I guess.”

That’s not the only time Tyson punched someone because of a bird, though. He also knocked out a garbage man many years later, he said.

“One morning I found my favorite pigeon, Julius, had died,” Tyson said, according to TalkSPORT. He said he left the pigeon on his stoop, and before he could honor the dead bird, a garbage man threw it away. “I rushed him and caught him flush on the temple with a titanic right hand,” Tyson said. “He was out cold, convulsing on the floor.”

Source: TalkSPORT

He once had about 100 pigeons in his garage, with “a few thousand” in New York City. He acknowledged that when you have a hobby, “you may have a tendency to collect too many.” But he said he understands them. “It’s just from trial and error. It’s being around them since I was 9,” he said, adding, “It’s just my first love, ever, flying pigeons.”

Source: “In Depth with Graham Bensinger”

Birds are not the only animals Tyson loves. He also kept tigers, but he said he came to regret the decision to have them on his property in the 1990s as one of them attacked a woman who trespassed on his property; he said he had to pay her $250,000. “I loved them,” he said, adding, “I shouldn’t have had them in my house … I was wrong.”

Source: “The Fat Joe Show”

Now Tyson has a pet poodle called Mars in his house. Tyson likes to pretend to box Mars, and Mars likes to lick Tyson on the mouth.

Source: Insider

Poodles and pigeons are a lot safer than tigers.

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