Mike Tyson has no time for Jake Paul’s ‘very expensive’ gift ahead of controversial boxing fight
Mike Tyson has been gifted a pigeon by Jake Paul ahead of their fight on Friday night – but the 58-year-old has joked he’ll feed it to his falcon!
The veteran is currently preparing for his big boxing comeback, with the icon set to take part in his first professional fight since 2005.
As the showdown rapidly approaches, the pair have sat down for an interview.
Paul then gifted his upcoming opponent a Southeast Asian pigeon. He said: “Oh, yeah, so I got you a gift, Mike.”
As Paul brought the pigeon’s cage up to the table, Tyson responded by saying: “Oh, thank you very much.”
Paul continued: “This is a pigeon from Southeast Asia, very expensive but I wanted you to have this.”
Yet while Tyson is a big pigeon fan, it doesn’t look as though he’ll be keeping the pet – if his comments are anything to go by.
“Thank you, Jake. It looks like a little budget pedigree. I’ll feed him to my falcon,” the 58-year-old said.
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Tyson has loved pigeons since the age of nine, having previously claimed they were a great comfort to him when he was bullied for being overweight as a child.
Earlier this year, he recalled how an ex-girlfriend didn’t like his taste in animals and actually wanted him to ‘eat’ the birds.
He told the Boomer & Carton radio show: “I was dating this young lady and she said, ‘I don’t know why you’re flying thiose damn birds, you should be eating them.’
“She happened to grab one and – and she cooked one and proceeded to eat it.
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“And I just couldn’t do it. It just wasn’t the right thing to do.
“That’s why she’s not my woman anymore.”
Tyson also revealed that a bully once killed a pigeon in front of him by tearing off the bird’s head. This, he says, led him to throwing a punch for the first time.
“The guy ripped the head off my pigeon. This was the first thing I ever loved in my life, the pigeon,” he continued.
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“That was the first time I threw a punch. I have loved pigeons since I was nine. They were my escape.”
Meanwhile, Paul will start the contest as the favourite to reign supreme.
The 27-year-old has youth on his side, whereas Tyson is seen by many as past his best given he’s 58.
And Paul is convinced he’ll knock out Tyson and claim the biggest victory of his career so far.
“Obviously, it would be the biggest moment in all of boxing history on Friday night when I put this man to sleep, so that is pretty dope,” he said.
Tyson, however, doesn’t believe that will be the case.
“He dreams a lot, he does a lot of dreaming. This is not gonna come true, young man,” he responded.