Mike Tyson paid $150,000 for black market tigers he kept until famous pet ‘ripped someone’s arm off’ and cost him a fortune
‘Iron Mike’ made a fortune during his legendary career, which saw him face Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis after flooring Trevor Berbick to become the youngest heavyweight champion of all time.
Tyson had pretty much everything he ever dreamed of. The 58-year-old even acquired exotic animals that are normally out of reach regardless of how much money you’ve got in the bank.
Jake Paul’s next opponent kept three tigers in his home, with one of them staying on his property for 16 years before he was forced to give it up after a terrifying incident.
Mike Tyson poses with his white tiger during an interview at his home.
Mike Tyson talks about his famous pet tigers
In December 2022, Mike Tyson explained that he got three tigers from the ‘black market’ before revealing how much he paid for each one.
“This guy was selling them and said, ‘I can get you a full grown one for $70,000 or I can get a small one for like $50,000,” Tyson explained on his Hotboxin’ Podcast
“So, I got the baby. I get the baby, we feed the baby with a bottle and then eventually she’s 400lbs. And then you figure out, how do I get rid of this motherf***er?”
Asked if they were ever aggressive, Tyson replied: “Not to me. Never to me.”
However, Tyson’s last remaining tiger hurt somebody, and it resulted in him forking out $250,000.
During a prior interview with GQ, Tyson claimed that a health condition led to him giving up his last Tiger, but then he nonchalantly mentioned that it had also ‘ripped somebody’s arm off’.
He said: “I had to get rid of her when her eyes and her head got bad.
“Oh, and she ripped somebody’s arm off.”
Tyson put to bed a rumor about the tiger escaping and attacking a neighbor as he revealed that someone trespassing on his property was badly hurt after trying to ‘play’ with the animal.
“No, that’s not what happened,” he clarified in another interview with rap icon Fat Joe. “Somebody jumped over my fence where the tiger was and jumped in their habitat and started playing with the tiger.
“And the tiger didn’t know the lady, so it was a bad accident. She jumped in the property where the tiger was at. They tried to [sue me] until they found out she jumped over the fence, and she trespassed the tiger.
“And listen, when I saw what the tiger did to her hand, I had a lot of money back then, so I gave her $250,000 or whatever it was. Because she was just f***ed up.”
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