Like father–like daughter! Back in his hay days, Mike Tyson owned three Bengal tigers, whom he raised since they were cubs. Sadly, he had to donate two of the tigers to a local sanctuary when they got bigger, and he parted ways with the third, Kenya, when its eyes and ears got bad. Several years have passed since then, and it seems Milan Tyson has developed a taste for the ferocious cats as well.

You read that right! Tyson’s 16-year-old daughter, Milan Tyson, wants to own a pet tiger just like his father once did! Reacting to posts on Instagram of pictures and videos of Tyson and his magnificent white tiger, Milan wrote in her story, “@miketyson birthday gift? Please”. In another story, she added, “Please daddy!!! We need one again!”

Mike Tyson, who will square off against Jake Paul on November 15th for a cross generational 8 round heavyweight bout, once had more money than he knew what to do with. While he mainly spent his millions on luxury cars, he remembers the conversation with a car dealer, which ended up with him owning three pet tigers.

The dealer explained to Tyson how if someone who owes him money for a car doesn’t pay up, he would get them horses. As unusual as it was, it blew Tyson’s mind, and he was set on getting himself some horses, since he had several cars. On further inquiry, the dealer even suggested that Tyson could get cougars, lions, tigers—basically whatever he wanted.

This was a lightbulb moment for Tyson, who changed his mind and opted to get tigers instead. But did you know Tyson’s last tiger had ripped a person’s arm off?

Mike Tyson sheds light on $250,000 payment

The only tiger he was left with after donating the other two, Kenya, stayed with him for 16 long years. In an interview with GQ, the former heavyweight champion said, “I had to get rid of her when her eyes and her head got bad. Oh, and she ripped somebody’s arm off”. However, this was no random tiger attack! As it turns out, a fan had jumped into Tyson’s property to play with the pet. 

The person then had an incident with the tiger when the cat severely damaged the person’s arm. This person tried to sue Tyson for the attack, but the case was dismissed when the judge learned that they were trespassing on Tyson’s property. Tyson told Fat Joe, “And listen, when I saw what the tiger did to her hand, I had a lot of money back then, so I gave her $250,000 or whatever it was”.

Even though Milan’s birthday is quite far away, in fact it’s in December, the 16-year-old seems to have her heart set on getting a Bengal tiger like her father. However, the question is, will a matured and wiser Mike Tyson get her the tiger? Only time will tell—until then, do you think ‘Iron’ Mike should buy a tiger?