 I want you to take a second to imagine a world where Mike Tyson, the famous boxer, is actually not known for boxing. In this world, Mike Tyson is instead a competitive pigeon racer. He's known around the world for how he cares for and obsesses over his pigeons. When he talks, he's not talking about boxing. He's talking about pigeons. And when you see him on TV, he's not boxing. He's racing pigeons. Now what if I told you that you actually don't have to imagine that world at all because that's the world that you live in. And also I do too. We all do. It's not just you, don't worry. We live in the Mike Tyson pigeon universe. I'm kinda making this video because I feel like I'm going insane. Like I feel like I'm the only person who didn't know this about Mike Tyson. The man is obsessed with pigeons. And see, the thing is, I feel like I knew he was into exotic animals before. Like I feel like I've seen pictures of him with tigers. That's a thing, right? Mike Tyson tiger. Yeah, okay, there we go. So that's a thing people know about him because I knew this. I'm not even into boxing. Mike Tyson and his strange relationship with his pet tigers. Well dude, honestly, wait until you find out about his strange relationship with his pigeons, man. This is a clip from a show on Animal Planet called Taking on Tyson Ready to Rumble. This is a show exclusively about Mike Tyson's competitive pigeon racing hobby. So first off, terrible name for a show, dude. You picked one of the most famous boxers in the world entitled the show Ready to Rumble and expected people to know it was about pigeons. Pigeons don't rumble. Do they? I actually don't. I don't know, I guess. Anyway, this is the first clip that I saw that led me down this rabbit hole. So I feel like I should show it to you guys first. This is a trailer for the show. Pigeons are born to fly. That's why God gave them wings. That's such a ridiculous yet obvious thing to say. I don't know who this guy is, but I hope he gets a lot of screen time in this show. I'm just trying to imagine who he was talking to. Like, what was that in response to? Mike Tyson being like, dude, I love pigeons. I just don't get why they have wings, you know? When I look in the mirror, I'm only looking at one winner. So this trailer doesn't really explain much about the show, but you do get a look at like the cast of characters. It's all like the toughest looking dudes you can imagine, Mike Tyson included. And they're all super into pigeon racing. There's this guy who's even doing like boxing motions. Yeah, you know what I'm ready to do. We got Mike Tyson in here. We're ready to breed some pigeons, baby. You've got this guy who's like standing on a rooftop smoking a cigar. It all feels like. This is like a rocky-esque documentary about someone getting ready for a fight. But instead, it's a bunch of men participating in the most whimsical sport I could imagine. The only person I've ever seen that's like this into pigeons before is the lady from Home Alone 2. So in my head, like that's what a person who's into pigeons looks like. So I was very surprised in this commercial to see all of these like super tough dudes being like, my friend Mike Tyson here. He doesn't like to lose, especially not when it comes to racing little tiny bird. I'm just looking forward to being held up and Joe Green, okay? Taking on Tyson, new episode. At the end of the trailer, it kind of looks like you're trying to fly away with them. Take me with you! I want to fly away with you! I want to fly! Okay, here's another clip. This one's called, Taking on Tyson Neighborhood Blues. By 1976, Mike, age 10, had been abandoned by his father and lived with his mother, brother, and sister on Atlantic Avenue. Okay, so right now seems like just like a pretty standard documentary honestly about Mike Tyson's life, talking about his difficult upbringing. But if I know Mike Tyson, there's probably one thing, one thing in particular in his life that he could sort of like channel all of his frustration into that would eventually get him out of this situation. It was as a child adrift on these streets that Mike first connected with the birds. Yep, and that's what I thought it was gonna be. That is what I thought. That Danny had pigeons over here, Chuckie, all these guys had pigeons on the side too. We used to go over there and try to tap them off and still let birds and stuff. It all kind of sounds like a euphemism, doesn't it? I feel like I'm watching TV from an alternate dimension but knowing that this is from the universe that I live in, it sounds like a euphemism. I had horrible pigeons, they couldn't fly much but they were beautiful. And they were just show birds. They were just show birds? What show? He's like they weren't racing birds, they were just show birds unfortunately. You know, they used to compete in those pigeon shows? No, we don't know. Do we? Do you guys know? Now I got a Google pigeon show, man. Okay, we've got like different types of pigeons up here. Pigeons and doves, you've got typical pigeons. Sounds like someone who was just betrayed by a pigeon. Typical fucking pigeon, man. Okay, pigeon shows in poultry center. Poultryshowcentral.com. Okay, that is a pretty nice looking pigeon honestly. So I could see why you would wanna put that in a show. Man, actually it's a really nice looking pigeon. Should I get into pigeons? And I was really insecure about letting some quality pigeons out because I didn't know about training. I just wanted to possess them. I liked it at the start before he started racing them or anything. He just wanted, he just wanted them and he didn't know why. He was like, I just gotta get my hands on these fuckers. And saying I wanted to possess them is a really funny way to say that. I just wanted to possess them. Cause who uses the word possess like that? I would like to go to the store. I would like to possess some new clothing. But honestly as a kid who grew up like collecting Pokemon cards but didn't even know how to play the game that you play with Pokemon cards, I get it, you know? You just like the way they look. You like how shiny they are. And sure, it might not have been a show Pikachu. And you didn't even know how to train the damn beast. But I wanted to possess them nonetheless. I wanted to sort of spiritually control his body and make him commit heinous acts. I wanted to possess the Pikachu. You can't imprison them. You have to have freedom. You have to be in that world to come with you. And that's where you get the gratitude to believe that they're here because they love me. This bird has a bond with me. This is my bird. I mean, look, don't get me wrong. Seems like a nice hobby, honestly. And it seems like it makes Mike Tyson really happy. Seems like he has a lot of emotional connection with these birds. I love that form. I just personally wish that somebody fucking told me that this was a thing. It was surely somebody's responsibility to tell me Mike Tyson was obsessed with Pigeon. It also is a little concerning that it seems like it took him a long time to learn that he can't imprison the Pigeons. You can't imprison them. You have to have freedom. You have to be in that world to come with you. And after 20 years of shit, basically torturing the Pigeons, I learned that you actually do have to let them fly sometimes, because that's what they do. They're birds. So I gave them wings. This bird has a bond with me. This is my bird. Cuts to a pigeon that has no idea what the fuck is going on. This bird loves me. This bird knows who I am. This bird remembers it's me. Every time I see it and I love him too. The birds actually probably do know who he is and do like, you know, have a bond with him. I feel like birds are pretty smart, more smart than people give them credit for. Parrots can talk. So I know at least they're smart. But for Tyson, Brownsville was never a happy home. Thank you, baby. I love you. I don't, I don't miss this neighborhood. That's such a funny cut. I mean, I get what they're trying to say, but it just cut from a woman being like, we miss you so much. Oh, we love you to Mike being like, I fucking hate this place, man, and everyone here. The only people I fuck with around here are the pigeons, actually, come to think of it. Where are the pigeons at? One of the best documentaries on pigeons so far. So far. Okay, this is like an entire paragraph, but I feel like there's so much to unpack in just that first sentence. First off, so far. How many more pigeon documentaries do you think there's gonna be? Also, this is a documentary about Mike Tyson. It happens to be about his love for pigeons, but it's not about pigeons. It's not like pigeons evolved from dinosaurs four million years ago and they eat bread and they like flying around, and some of them know Mike Tyson. No, the video is about Mike Tyson. This whole thing feels like if there was like a documentary about Tom Brady that came out, that was like Tom Brady, a living legend, and that's the name of it. And then the whole thing is about how he like knits competitively. He does competitive knitting. You can't imagine how many ferocious beating that took over these pigeons. When my life was at stake and guys, people throwin' you off to just kickin' you, man, man, over these birds. Actually, Mike, that is 100% true. I would not believe it. I actually do not believe someone threw you off the roof over some birds. Although it would be sick to see, dude. Imagine Mike Tyson's trying to like steal somebody's pigeons. They throw them off the roof and then Peter Pan style. Mike Tyson comes floating back up on top of the roof carried by his pigeons. He's like, they may just be showbirds, baby, but they're my showbirds and they love me. And they know who I am. Stop laughing, they know who I am. You can't imagine how many ferocious beating that took over these pigeons. How many ferocious beatings did you take over the pigeons, Mike? I wanna know, what was the scenery like when you were getting punched over these pigeons? Were you like in a stadium, like an arena full of people? Were you in sort of like a square enclosure wearing big puffy gloves? That's actually how Mike's coach motivated Mike for each fight. Mike Tyson doesn't know what boxing is. His coach was just like, Mike, this guy in the ring, he wants to steal your pigeons. And the only way he says he won't is if you can tangle with him in the ring for eight rounds, baby. I feel like I'm gonna go back and watch like old pre-fight footage of Mike Tyson when they're like shit talking each other. And the first guy's like, Mike Tyson's going down, dude. He doesn't stand a chance against me. I'm crazy. And Mike's like, I don't wanna hurt this guy. But it's the only way I can get my pigeons back. What we love about these birds is what we can't get from human beings. And that's loyalty. And that's what the connection is with them. No wonder Mike was good friends with Tupac. No, dude, do not tell me Tupac raised birds too. And I didn't know this. Oh, okay. Tupac was also all about being loyal to the ones he loved and cherished as friends. Well, okay. No, that's true. This is Tyson's corner. This is something I absolutely adore doing, of course. I'm a pigeon man. Anybody that's familiar with having the pigeon bug knows this is gonna be amazing. Okay, so in this clip, you can actually see some of the pigeons that Mike owns, you know? He's talked about how he likes pigeons, but this is the first time we're actually getting to see like part of the enclosure where he keeps all the pigeons. I've been doing this since I was nine years old. You know, of course, people I'm more familiar with me being a fighter, but. I'm glad, honestly, that he said it because it's what I've been thinking the whole time. I'm glad he at least acknowledged the boxing. I even felt like at the beginning of this clip, I was being gaslit because he's in a boxing gym. But he's like, and you know why we're here? To talk about my pigeons. I wanted to show you these beautiful white bars that this bird possessed. There he goes using that word again, possess. I think he just really likes that word. He uses it a lot for someone that's not like a wizard, right? What do you say to people who say pigeons are a nuisance? I don't know. Some pigeons to me are a nuisance. I had some of my birds that don't want to fly in the stock, so he becomes a nuisance to me, but. Yeah, I don't know if Mike like understood the question. I don't think most people think pigeons are a nuisance because they won't like fly into their coop correctly when you want them to like go to bed. Yeah, New Yorkers, man. They hate those pigeons. You know, every time they see one, they're like, why won't this pigeon just follow me back to my house and obey my orders like I want it to, dude? I can't believe. Holy shit. That's the Mike Tyson I know, man. Come here, little birdie, sweet little bird. Come here! Fucker, he just got done talking about like not showing hostility towards the birds, too. Of course you're gonna have some kind of hostility if you have no kind of understanding. Yeah, you gotta have understanding, you know? You gotta be loving and caring. Come here! Caught it right out of the air. I can't believe. I also kind of feel like the birds might not share the same amount of affection that Mike has for them, dude. When he walked over, before he even started reaching for them, all the birds were like, no, fuck this, no, he's back, he's back! That's why he had to grab so quickly, dude. He grabbed that bird so hard I was half expecting him to grab it, and then when he like opens his hand, it's just sand comes out. Oh, damn it, I grabbed too hard. Here's one of the best interviews I could find about Mike Tyson talking about pigeons, and it actually kind of ties into how he became a boxer in the first place. The videos called Mike Tyson, A Pigeon, Caused My First Fight. I had all these birds one day that I, you know, I'm just suddenly popped up in this living room of mine, so. Yeah, so he starts the story with like the least relatable thing ever, and I'm immediately lost. So I was just chilling around one day and a bunch of birds popped up in my living room, you know. Yeah, now dude, we know. We get it. I told some friends of mine from another neighborhood, and they brought some other guys from the neighborhood to steal the birds. One guy put a bird in there and ran after, I ran after him, please give me my bird. Please, please give me my bird. You want your bird? It's pretty snappy. You want this bird with the bird head off, hit me with the bird, don't blood on me. So, the story is someone stole one of his birds, and then he ripped its head off and threw it back at Mike. Did Mike Tyson fight Ozzy Osbourne? Was that his first fight? Again, I feel like I'm in an alternate dimension where like birds are currency. You walk down a dark alley at night and you see old women getting their pigeons stolen by burglars and ski masks. How many do you have? I don't know, me have 100 in there. It's 100, what you have altogether? Do you have more? I have a few thousand in New York City. Okay, that's what I thought. At first, I thought that was a joke. Him saying, I've got a couple thousand in New York City. I thought he was just being like, well, every bird in New York is mine. I thought that was the joke. He actually does have thousands of birds in New York because every time in an interview when someone asks him how many birds he has, it's like a drastically different number, but it's always at least a thousand. Mike Tyson has a shit ton of birds. And if you watch a little bit more of this interview, you might find out why the number is so drastically different every time he brings it up. Part of my life is just like a guy that owns horses and watches his horses or have cows or dogs. It's just a part of your life. If you don't have them, it's a bad season. The disease come by, wipe you all out. You wait until you get more. Yeah, dude, it's just like raising a dog or a cat, you know? Sometimes you have a bad season and a plague rolls through and just kills all of your animals. I guess like, I don't know anything about pigeons. So I guess I don't know if that's normal or not, but thousands of them at a time will die. And then he's just like, time to get new ones. I love these things so much, man. And I have a personal bond with each one of them. And then like once a year, all of them die, thousands of them. And then I just, you know, buy new ones and it means nothing to me. You know, Pete is always kicking my butt. That's weird. I can't imagine why that would be. I love animals. Maybe I don't always know the best routine or how to fix them when they're sick or anything. Sounds like you don't have any routine to fix them while they're sick. Sounds like they all die. Like if you look at my refrigerator, you may see a whole conglomerate and dynamic of this animal medicine. It's very important. They're very temperamental. They're very temperamental, man. They have to be very careful with them. Otherwise, they will all die. Cut to the shot of him snatching that pigeon out of the air with all of his might. They're full of pieces in a moment. Aren't these the birds that survive in like the dirtiest cities in the world? I think it might be you, man. I hate to say it. I think you might be killing these birds. And people might not understand this, but this is, you can take them 600 miles away, right? And they'll still come back to your coop. The record is just for 600 legally, what a bird is normally usually able to fly in one day. Anything more than that, I guess they're gonna consider it animal cruelty. I guess they consider it animal cruelty, dude. I don't get it. They seem fine to me. And I'm a pretty good judge of these things. I know when pigeons are scared. Come here! How about the pigeon you've had that has lived the longest? I think I would have a 14 year old bird before. Okay, 14 years old, that sounds pretty good. I think that's like how long birds live anyway. Let me Google it. How long do pigeons live? Okay, rock dove lives for six years. Oh wait, adults may live up to 15 years with birds in captivity reaching over 30 years. Although a more realistic lifespan in feral populations is around four years. Okay, so that was like a bunch of different answers, but sounds like that's a pretty respectable age, as long as you ignore the part where they can live up to 30 years. There's one bird in there that I'm attaching. And this is really crazy. It's a solid white bird. And I really don't like solid white birds. I want you to keep that sound bite in your head real quick. He says, I don't like solid white birds. And I really don't like solid white birds. They draw too much attention for birds of prey. They draw too much attention from birds of prey, okay? He's on record. He doesn't like solid white birds. Now let's watch this clip of Mike Tyson on the Carson Daily Show, receiving a gift of a new pigeon. Because Carson, I guess, heard that Mike loves pigeons. I hope this is okay, but I wanted to get you a pigeon so I know it's near and dear to your heart. And so there's a gift for you. Hey man. Oh no dude, it's a white pigeon. Well, I'm sure Mike will just be polite about it and just be like, thank you anyway. And he'll just put it somewhere and let it live out its life. And it'll be fine. Immediately scares the shit out of the bird. Mike, I don't think you're as good at reading pigeons as you think. Or maybe he just hates white birds that much. Where he's just like, oh, hey, fuckers. Hey. How do you open the cage, man? Open the cage, man. I wanna kill this bird. I hate this bird, man. How do I get in this thing? What do you think? It's a pretty, is it pretty? No, it's a piece of c**k, but I'm gonna discuss it for you why I'm gonna do it. Is it really? So when I give him to my hawk, I have a hawk there. Okay, so now he's gonna get home and he's gonna feed the pigeon to his hawk. So when I give him to my hawk, I have a hawk there. What was that thing he said about forming bonds and loving them, having special relationships with each bird? Mike's like, oh yeah, I probably should have told you the only thing that I like more than pigeons is hawks. I have about 10,000 hawks. And they gotta eat, baby. We open this cage anybody here. Can we please open this cage? I don't wanna kill this thing. All right guys, well I hope you learned a little something in this video about the wild and wacky world of pigeon racing and Mike Tyson. Because again, it is the world that you live in. Bye bye.