Mike Tyson left garbage man 'convulsing on the floor' after messing with his favourite pet

Even now in his 50s, Iron Mike oversees several aviaries where he stores his beloved pigeons, a habit that began as a youngster.

And growing up, Tyson was fiercely protective of his birds - which has led to some brutal confrontations in the past.

Back in his youth, the New York-born star was left grieving one of his pigeons that had passed away via natural causes.

To honour the bird, he intended to use the crate he stored it in as a stickball bat, a sport he used to play on the streets of Brooklyn.

However, he never got the chance to go through with his plan after a garbage man crushed the box - and it did not end well for him.

Speaking about the incident, Tyson said: "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. He was out cold, convulsing on the floor."

Whoever the garbage man was, there was no way he could have known he was throwing away a prized possession of the future heavyweight champion of the world.

Tyson would soon become one of the biggest stars in boxing history, known for his vicious power and shocking speed despite his heavyweight status.

It saw him become the youngest heavyweight champion of all time at 20 years, 4 months, and 22 days old, as well as winning his first 19 professional bouts by knockout - 12 of which came in the first round.

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Despite having not fought professionally since 2005, Tyson will return to the ring to face YouTube sensation Jake Paul on November 15.

Many have criticised the clash considering that the 58-year-old had to postpone the fight because of a health scare while Paul is 27, 31 years younger than his upcoming opponent, with boxing promoter Eddie Hearn branding the event 'disgusting'.

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Nevertheless, there has been huge intrigue in the bout while a press conference at the weekend nearly descended into chaos.

Paul has only ever fought one other professional boxer in his 11 fights, losing the contest to Tommy Fury in February 2023.