Mike Tyson invited undefeated boxer Nico Ali Walsh – the grandson of Muhammad Ali – to his $100,000 pigeon loft before teaching him to catch and hold his beloved birds.
The 56-year-old former heavyweight champion has been very vocal about his love for pigeons. He had a difficult upbringing surrounded by crime but found great comfort and perspective from looking after the animal.
Tyson believes the birds can teach us the importance of being compassionate. "I always loved pigeons ever since I was a child," he once said.
Such was his love for the pigeon, Tyson's first fight was with a bully who decided to mistreat one of his pets.
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“The guy ripped the head off my pigeon," he told CBS. "This was the first thing I ever loved in my life, the pigeon. That was the first time I threw a punch. I have loved pigeons since I was nine. They were my escape.
“I was fat and ugly. Kids teased me all the time. The only joy I had was pigeons.”
Tyson has looked after pigeons since the age of nine and almost 50 years on, the so-called 'baddest man on the planet' decided to give Muhammad Ali's grandson Nico a lesson in how to look after the bird.
As you can see in the footage below, Mike hands over one of his feathered friends to the young fighter, who was clearly enjoying such a unique experience.
Tyson has thrown more punches over incidents involving his beloved pigeons.
He once hit a bin man with "a titanic right hand" for throwing away a crate, which had his favourite pigeon’s dead body inside.
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“One morning I woke up and found my favourite pigeon, Julius, had died," he recalled. "I was devastated and was gonna use his crate as my stickball bat to honour him.
“I left the crate on my stoop and went in to get something and I returned to see the sanitation man put the crate into the crusher.
“I rushed him and caught him flush on the temple with a titanic right hand! He was out cold, convulsing on the floor.”
Tyson, meanwhile, has never shied away from showing his respect towards the late Muhammad Ali. In fact, he broke down in tears after opening up on how Ali inspired him to be a boxer.
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“This is the thing about Ali; when we were watching him get beat up as an old man—even when I was a young kid—he’s not going to quit, you’ve got to kill him. He won’t quit," he said on Michael Rapaport’s I Am Rapaport Stereo Podcast,
"He was getting beat up every round, he had the sh*t kicked out of him by Larry Holmes. Is the champ done? No, come on, let me out. They wouldn’t stop. He had to stand up there and take the beating like a man. He wouldn’t quit.
“In that way, I respect the guy so much. I have so much admiration for the guy. So much, but it’s just not right to do that as a human being. Just say, ‘It’s over. I’ll come back another day. It’s over. You got me.’”
Topics: Boxing, Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali
Jack Kenmare