According to legend Mike Tyson, he had to sell the tiger that had been with him for 16 years after this animal bit off a neighbor’s hand.

Mike Tyson is perhaps the most special champion in the history of boxing. Because, not only is he remembered for his talent, the former heavyweight champion also makes people waste a lot of ink on his life outside the ring.

There are many things to say about “Iron Fist” and each anecdote would probably take several articles to clarify. However, today, we will only mention a rather “wild” hobby of Mike, which is spending tons of money to bring a white tiger as a pet.

Mike Tyson once raised 3 white tigers in his house.

Honestly, “Iron Fist” has not been a fan of tigers since childhood. His fate with this rare animal came by chance, while he was still in prison due to a rape accusation.

At that time, the boxing king was having trouble with his car and was willing to give it away if he received a really attractive price. Knowing this information, a friend of Mike’s, who is also a famous car broker, went to the prison and made an extremely surprising offer. Accordingly, he will exchange the car for expensive pets, to live up to his name.

“He said, ‘my dad has tigers and lions. If you want one of those, it’s much cooler than a Ferrari’. I replied, ‘Why don’t you order me a pair. I will be released from prison in the next few months’. And then when I escaped the clinic and returned home, the two tigers were there,” Mike recalled.

Mike’s tiger named Kenya weighs up to 250 kg.

The number increased to 3 not long after. Raising tigers is truly a hobby only available to rich people. Not to mention the huge amount of money to buy it, just raising this creature costs Mike quite a bit of money.

According to Richest, 3 tigers cost “Iron Fist” up to 200 thousand USD in food each year. Not only that, Mike also spent 125 thousand USD/year to hire a coach to tame these tigers. Thanks to that, the one-time champion can freely play with his “pet”, from the indoor water tank to taking walks in the park.

However, over time, the number of tigers he raised kept decreasing. People are rumored that “Iron Fist” has run out of money to play around since his retirement. Mike himself has never admitted this. Just know that, since the late 2000s, he has only raised a 250 kg tiger named Kenya.

“It loves me very much. I raised it, slept with it, put it in my room. It clings to me. I have been together with it for about 16 years.”

Mike said white tigers are very strong.

But then “Iron Fist” also had to sell this beloved animal. The reason this time is definitely not because of money but because of fear for life because one fine day, Kenya bit off a woman’s hand.

There are many versions surrounding this story. However, the most reliable is probably through Mike’s own words. Not long ago, he recounted the incident in quite detail on a television show.

Accordingly, the woman above was interested in Kenya. This girl even jumped over the fence to play with Mike’s tiger. However, without seeing a trace of her acquaintance, Kenya “went crazy”. The consequences were very terrible, the woman was bitten until her entire arm was severed.

Immediately, “Iron Fist” was sued and faced heavy fines for letting pets “eat people”. Wanting to quickly settle everything, he had to grit his teeth and spend $250,000 to buy silence from the victim.

Everything went smoothly from then on, but the bond between Mike and the Kenyan tiger also ended here.

“You wouldn’t believe what they could do to humans. I don’t know. There’s no way to 100% pure them. It’ll never happen. It’ll kill you one day. Yes.” Maybe he didn’t do this on purpose. Tigers are too strong, especially when you play with them. You punch them once. They fight back and you’re dead,” Mike said bitterly.

After selling Kenya, the one-time boxing champion did not raise any more wild animals. To this day, when asked what he thinks about his decision to “play foolishly” in raising tigers in the past, the legend quickly replied: “I was so stupid.”