Mike Tyson makes sad admission ahead of Jake Paul boxing fight - 'I'm nobody'
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Mike Tyson has sadly admitted that he thinks he's a 'nobody' ahead of his fight with Jake Paul.
The boxing icon is currently preparing to come out of retirement, four years on from his exhibition draw with Roy Jones Jr.
Tyson has come a long way from his young years. When he was growing up in New York, the fighter often found himself battling to try and stay out of trouble.
In a new Netflix documentary, the 58-year-old went back to the flat he grew up in without heating in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Mike Tyson has sadly admitted that he thinks he's a 'nobody' ahead of his fight with Jake Paul
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Tyson's mother often struggled to put food on the table for the boxing icon, something he's spoken about in the past.
And Iron Mike has sadly admitted that he feels he's 'nobody' despite being widely considered as one of the best heavyweights of all time.
“Sometimes I think I’m somebody,” he said.
"But when I go through that door I realise I’m nobody.”
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Tyson, writing in his autobiography in 2013, opened up on his traumatic childhood.
He says he was bullied for being chubby and having a lisp, while other children his age also targeted him by saying he had poor hygiene.
"I was scared to be in the house, and I was also scared to go outside," he admitted.
"By then, I was going to a public school and that was a nightmare.
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"I was a chubby kid, very shy, almost girlishly shy and I spoke with a lisp.
"The kids used to call me 'Little Fairy Boy' because I was always hanging out with my sister, but my mum told me I had to stay around Denise as she was older than me.
"They also called me 'Dirty Ike' or 'Dirty Motherf*****' because I didn't know about hygiene back then.
"We didn't have hot water to shower in and, if the gas wasn't on, we couldn't even boil water.
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Mike Tyson has come a long way since his tough upbringing in New York as he prepares to fight Jake Paul
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"My mother tried to teach me about it but she didn't do a very good job.
"She used to take soap and fill a bucket up with hot water and wash me."
Fast-forward to now and Tyson is a man with £10million to his name.
But the boxing icon insists that he's never content, which is part of the reason why he's coming out of retirement to battle a man 27 years his junior.
Mike Tyson insists he's never 'content' as the boxing icon prepares to fight Jake Paul
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“I’m never content, so I guess I don’t have peace," he said.
"I definitely have more responsibilities. I don’t know, it’s all more practical than it was before.
"I have kids, I have a wife, I have chores. I have things to do.
"When I was champion I had nothing of substance to do. Partying, drinking, women, talking s**t. There was no substance back then.”
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