Mike Tyson Explains How a Phone Call in Prison Resulted in Him Buying Tigers
Mike Tyson has been known for his love of cars, and a phone call about his favorite item lead to another one of his famous purchases – tigers.
Tyson was a guest on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast on Thursday and comedian Tom Segura asked the boxer, "What made you think you could get a tiger?" Tyson proceeded to share the wild story.
"This is really interesting. I’m in prison at the time," Tyson said. "So I’m in prison, I’m talking to my car dealer at the time and he has some cars that belong to a [mutual friend], and he’s discussing 'If he doesn’t pay for these cars, I’m going to sell these cars to somebody and get some horses.'
"I said 'What, you can get horses? And trade horses in for cars?' Because I had a lot of cars, I’d probably get some horses too.
"And he said 'Yeah man, you can get cougars, lions, tigers…' I said 'You do?! Can you get me some tigers?'
"The guy said 'Imagine how cool that would be?' Because I had a bunch of fancy cars, 'Imagine that man, you’d be in an Aston Martin or a Ferrari. You’d have a tiger right next to you, man. That’s be so awesome.'
"And I’m a young guy. I’m saying to myself 'Wow, that would be cool. Get me some cubs, man.' "
There's nothing quite like trading in your car for a horse or an exotic jungle cat. Tyson owned three white Bengal tigers, which reportedly cost $4,000 per month to care for. Tyson eventually was forced to give his cats up, but not before one accidentally headbutted him and knocked out his gold tooth.
