Flashback: Trespasser Picked Worst Home Possible, Got Chewed up by Mike Tyson's Pet Tiger
Although he’s been retired since 2005, Mike Tyson still makes headlines.
The former heavyweight champion’s eventful life has made him a sought-after guest on TV shows, podcasts and other interview formats.
In one, he sat down with rapper Fat Joe on a live Instagram, and they took a little journey down memory lane, recalling the time his pet tiger attacked a trespasser, according to GiveMeSport.
The conversation also made its way to Twitter, where Tyson got to set the record straight on what actually happened.
🐅 Mike Tyson tells the story of how he got his pet tigers and the time one of them attacked a trespasser…
[📽️ @FatJoe] pic.twitter.com/18C5cLgRrB
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) March 28, 2020
Fat Joe seemed to think Tyson’s tiger jumped over its fenced-in area and tore off the arm of a neighbor.
“No, no, no, Joe, that’s not what happened. Somebody jumped over my fence, where the tiger was, and jumped in the [habitat] and started playing with the tiger. The tiger didn’t know the lady, so it was a bad accident.” said Tyson.
The uninvited guest apparently attempted to sue, but the case was thrown out when it was discovered she had been trespassing.
Nevertheless, Tyson apparently felt sorry for the damage done to her hand.
“And listen, when I saw what the tiger did to her hand — I had a lot of money back then — I just gave $250,000 or whatever it was because she was just f****d up, Joe.”
Fat Joe pressed for details. “Yeah, that motherf***er took her arm off, huh?” he asked.
“Oh, Joe, Joe, I can’t believe what they can do to a person’s flesh. I had no idea.”
Tyson indicated the incident made him realize it was foolish to keep such animals as house pets, even the ones he had raised from cubs.
Man this is such a legendary photo of @MikeTyson makes me want a tiger badly pic.twitter.com/ELztK5jarO
— Zack Edmonds (@ZackEdmondsMMA) December 15, 2022
“Hey, listen, you know what happened? I was foolish then. There’s no way you’re gonna domesticate these cats 100 percent. There’s no way that’s going to happen,” he told Fat Joe. “They’ll kill you by accident. They don’t even mean to kill you; they do it by accident. They’re too strong.
“Especially when you’re playing rough with ’em and you’re punching ’em back, and they’re getting hyped up and they ‘hit’ you back and you’re dead.”
Tyson said the incident convinced him it was unwise to try to treat the tigers as house pets, even letting them sleep with him.
“I’m just happy I educated myself,” he told his host. “It was late, but I’ve educated myself that I was doing the wrong s***. I shouldn’t have had them in my house, I shouldn’t have … believed they were domesticated. I was wrong.”
