Always open to promoting his brand, Tyson also launched a YouTube channel in 2017, which parodies comedy sketches and music videos. In January 2019, he kicked off his Hotboxin’ with mike tyson early life Tyson podcast.
Michael Gerard Tyson was born in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York City, on June 30, 1966. He has an older brother named Rodney (born c. 1961) and had an older sister named Denise, who died of a heart attack at age 24 in February 1990. Tyson’s mother, born in Charlottesville, Virginia, was described as a promiscuous woman who might have been a prostitute. Tyson’s biological father is listed as “Purcell Tyson”, a “humble cab driver” (who was from Jamaica) on his birth certificate, but the man Tyson had known as his father was a pimp named Jimmy Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick was from Grier Town, North Carolina (a predominantly black neighborhood that was annexed by the city of Charlotte), where he was one of the neighborhood’s top baseball players. Kirkpatrick married and had a son, Tyson’s half-brother Jimmie Lee Kirkpatrick, who would help to integrate Charlotte high school football in 1965. In 1959, Jimmy Kirkpatrick left his family and moved to Brooklyn, where he met Tyson’s mother, Lorna Mae (Smith) Tyson. Kirkpatrick frequented pool halls, gambled and hung out on the streets. “My father was just a regular street guy caught up in the street world,” Tyson said. Kirkpatrick abandoned the Tyson family around the time Mike was born, leaving Tyson’s mother to care for the children on her own. Kirkpatrick died in 1992.
Washington herself testified that Tyson had “called her around 1:45 a.m. to tour the city, then picked her up in his limo, took her back to his room, and made small talk as they both sat on the bed.” After propositioning her for sex, Washington stated that she firmly refused and went to use the bathroom before leaving. “After using the bathroom, she said, she noticed some discharge on her panty shield. Washington said she removed the liner and threw it away.” When she came out, “Tyson then pulled her to the bed, pinned her down and raped her, she testified. “He was mean, evil,” she said. “I got on top and started to try to get away, but he slammed me down again.””. “Three days after the assault, Washington went to the police and accused Tyson of rape.” Partial corroboration of Washington’s story came via testimony from Tyson’s chauffeur, Virginia Foster, who confirmed Desiree Washington’s “state of shock” after the incident. Foster also testified that Tyson had previously attempted to sexually assault her too, having “lured her to his hotel room, tried to touch her, and then exposed himself”. Further testimony came from the emergency room physician, Dr. Thomas Richardson, who examined Washington after the incident and confirmed that Washington’s physical condition was consistent with rape. Richardson testified that Washington had suffered “two small vaginal abrasions, consistent with 20 to 30 percent of the injuries seen in sexual assault cases”, and that in approximately 20,000 cases over a period of 20 years, “only twice had he ever seen such abrasions following consensual sex.”
Tyson frequently ran into trouble with police over his petty criminal activities, and by age 13, he had been arrested more than 30 times. His bad behavior landed him in the Tryon School for Boys, a reform school in upstate New York. At Tryon, Tyson met counselor Bob Stewart, who had been an amateur boxing champion. Tyson wanted Stewart to teach him how to use his fists. Stewart reluctantly agreed, on the condition that Tyson would stay out of trouble and work harder in school.
In another Memphis fight on February 22, 2003, Tyson beat fringe contender Clifford Etienne 49 seconds into round one. The pre-fight was marred by rumors of Tyson’s lack of fitness. Some said that he took time out from training to party in Las Vegas and get a new facial tattoo. This eventually proved to be Tyson’s final professional victory in the ring.
I went with him, and we started breaking into people’s houses. He told me to go through the windows that were too small for him to fit through, and I went in and opened the door for him. Once we were inside, he went through people’s drawers, he broke open the safe, he was just really wiping them out. We got stereos, eight-tracks, jewelry, guns, cash money. After the robberies, he took me to Delancey Street in the city and bought me some nice clothes and sneakers and a sheepskin coat.
Tyson remains one of the highest-paid boxers in recent history, accruing millions of dollars in the course of his starling but controversial career in the ring. Reports said he made over $300 million throughout his boxing career before losing it all. Forbes reports that back in the day, he accumulated $685 million throughout his career before losing almost everything.
– Life is a fight and a struggle just like boxing. Even though you are going to lose, you still got to fight. And you have to fight like you know you’re going to win. Ain’t that some bullshit? You know you’re going to lose but you have to fight like you know you’re going to win. And then what happens, sometimes you win. You remember what happened with me and Buster, right? And Ali and Leon Spinks, right?