10 Year Old Mike Tyson Knocked Out His Garbage Man for Throwing His Favorite Dead Pigeon in the Trash
Source - Heavyweight boxing legend Mike Tyson has revealed he knocked out a bin man after he threw his pet pigeon in the bin. ...
Tyson told World Boxing Council: 'One morning I woke up and found my favourite pigeon, Julius, had died. 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 and he was out cold.' ...
'I don't know why, I feel ridiculous just trying to explain it. [Pigeons] are just so much like people.'
Is there ever been a public figure in American history who has changed his public persona the way Mike Tyson has? I'm just sure exactly where the age cutoff is, but you're under say, 30 years old, you probably have no idea what Tyson used to be like. Or how he was perceived.
From the mid-1980s to the mid-90s, he was Beelzebub. Pure terror in human form. Like an HP Lovecraft monster come to life. Talking about eating opponent's children and threatening anyone with the courage to interview him. I still remember sitting in my friend's living room watching him stare down Hurricane Peter McNeeley in his first fight after serving time in jail on a rape conviction, and we talked about how we were in fear for our own safety.
Maybe it all changed with the two losses to Evander Holyfield. The second being the one that ended with him biting Holyfield's ear off. That was the act of a guy who was afraid. And for the first time, he seemed vulnerable. "Vulnerable" in the sense that he could be beaten, not in the way that they use it on "The Bachelor" to say "I am an overly emotional pussy with Low-T and you deserve an actual man."
And ever since then, Tyson has slowly morphed from Satan made flesh into America's crazy, eccentric, beloved uncle who had a tough background. But it's given him all the best stories and the kids love to make him the center of attention when he visits. I mean, those guys from "The Hangover" trilogy refused to work with Mel Gibson but cast Iron Mike as the sane voice of reason. If back around 1990 or so, if he'd told a story about knocking some guy out cold when he was 10, there would've been people looking to see if the statute of limitations had run out or if they could convict him of attempted murder. Now it's just a colorful anecdote about how a boy's love for his pet helped him discover his strength. It's practically a superhero origin story. The establishing shot of the Mike Tyson biopic if they ever do one.
The one thing that is not surprising about his story is Tyson saying pigeons are like humans to him. Not for those of us who are superfans of "Mike Tyson Mysteries." Because Norm MacDonald's pigeon character - named, cleverly enough, "Pigeon" - is the best part of the show. I'm no fighter, but I'd knock a man cold who ever disrespected Pigeon's memory too.