Mike Tyson blew £320m fortune on tigers, pigeons and cars before comeback
Mike Tyson squandered his £320m fortune on tigers, racing pigeons and cars before bouncing back this year after he vowed to make money selling marijuana
Mike Tyson blew his reported £320 million fortune on tigers, racing pigeons and cars.
The boxing legend, 54, ended up broke after reckless spending when he filed for bankruptcy in 2003.
However, the sports star has been making a comeback after he vowed to make his money back selling marijuana.
Now The Baddest Man On The Planet faces Roy Jones Jr in a fight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Saturday.
The champion has lost six stone ahead of his boxing return.
Tigers
Mike was said to have spent $60,000 on each Bengal tiger.
His animal trainer to keep them in order was said to have set him back $125,000.
The star kept Kenya, Storm, and Boris as pets in his sprawling Las Vegas mansion in the 1990s.
He was forced to sell them when he lost his fortune.
Big fan of the Tiger King series, he recently admitted he may have even bought his tigers indirectly from Joe Exotic.
He told MailOnline : “It could have been, maybe where I got my cats could have got their cats from Joe. But I don’t know.
“If you are in the exotic animal world you are aware of him.”
However, the boxer shared his regrets over owning the wild creatures he couldn’t tame.
He said on Instagram live: “There’s no way you can domesticate these cats 100 percent. No way that’s going to happen.
“They’ll kill you by accident, especially when you’re playing rough with them, you’re punching them back. They get hyped up, hit you back and you’re dead.”
Pigeons
Also, Mike has splashed out serious money on racing pigeons.
It’s believed he still owns around 1,000 pigeons even now.
His love of pigeons stems back to his childhood where he kept one of the birds as a pet.
Devastated Mike threw his first punch when a bully killed his pigeon, which he describes as the “first thing I ever loved”.
“The guy ripped the head off my pigeon. This was the first thing I ever loved in my life, the pigeon,” he said.
“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.”
Cars
Most of Mike’s cars were flogged at car auctions when he hit money troubles in 2003.
But at the height of his career, he had the most enviable car collection to his name.
His first ever car was a flashy 1985 Cadillac Eldorado.
For his 21st birthday, he treated himself to a swish Rolls Royce Silver Spur.
After another milestone – beating Tony Tucker in a fight – he splashed out on the Rolls Royce Corniche.
Among his outstanding collection, Mike also once owned a Ferrari and a Mercedes.
The comeback
Previously, Mike vowed to get his fortune back by selling the “best marijuana around”.
The boxer made the business decision to sell the drug to help heal others when it was legal to sell over the counter in California.
“It’s not just about smoking to get high,” he said.
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