“Their Eyes Were Like an Innocent Infant”- When Mike Tyson Tried Bribing a Zoo-Keeper to Punch a Gorilla

Even though Mike Tyson is one of the best heavyweight boxers of all time, he has been involved in a fair share of controversies.

At the young age of 20, Tyson became the youngest boxer ever to win a heavyweight title. Iron Mike possesses a level of power and ferocity that a rare few have been able to match.

From something as trivial as biting Evander Holyfield’s ear in the ring to being in prison on charges of rape. Tyson’s career has been a series of ups and downs.

Here is one that leans a little more to the trivial side. Mike Tyson once offered $10,000 to a zoo-keeper to open a cage, so that he could “smash” a silverback gorilla in the face.

The story goes back to the late 1980s while Tyson was on a private tour of a zoo. And he saw a gorilla being a bully. Therefore, he offered the zoo-keeper a hefty sum to open the cage so that he could go in and teach the gorilla a lesson.

“When we got to the gorilla cage there was one big silverback gorilla there just bullying all the other gorillas. They were so powerful but their eyes were like an innocent infant. I offered the attendant $10,000 to open the cage and let [me] smash that silverback’s snot box! He declined.”- Mike Tyson to Boxing Scene

Mike Tyson and His Infatuation For Animals

This is not the only wild story that involves Tyson and an exotic animal. During his heyday, Tyson possessed tigers and they were housed in his Las Vegas mansion.

“Somebody jumped over my fence where my tiger was and … started playing with the tiger. The tiger didn’t know the lady so there was a bad accident.”- Mike Tyson to rapper Fat Joe

Tyson recalls that one of his tigers attacked a trespasser back in the 1990s. The damage was so severe that the boxer had to pay the woman $250,000.

“Listen, when I saw what the tiger did to her … I had a lot of money back then so I gave her $250,000, whatever it was because she was just f—– up. I didn’t know what they could do to a person’s flesh, had no idea.“- Mike Tyson

However, Tyson admits that he was foolish to try and domesticate tigers back then. He adds that the cats could have killed someone by accident. “They are too strong,” said Tyson.

Seemingly, Tyson’s attitude towards animals has changed. Where there were once tigers and gorillas, now lies a poodle. Something that all animal rights activists could congratulate Tyson for.