As a young boy growing up in 1970s Brownsville, Brooklyn, Mike Tyson was no stranger to the harsh realities of his neighborhood. At the tender age of 9, he had already developed a fearsome reputation as a brawler, known to take on not only other children but their fathers as well.
In an event hosted by Valuetainment, Tyson spoke candidly about his tumultuous upbringing, revealing that he would engage in multiple confrontations per day, often for the sake of money or to fend off robbery attempts. “I must’ve had like three or four [fights] a day. For money or I was robbing somebody,” he recalled.
Tyson’s physical stature was also striking, as he noted that he weighed a staggering 200 pounds (14 stone) by the time he was just 12 years old. This size and strength, coupled with his brawling prowess, made him a formidable adversary. “I was this size at 12 years old, I was 200lbs at 12 years old,” he stated.
Tyson’s reputation as a tough guy quickly spread, and he soon found himself sought out by the local criminal element. “All the tough guys and the criminal guys wanted to hang out with me. They put me in their gang,” he said.
However, Tyson’s involvement in the criminal justice system was not limited to his brawling activities. By the age of 13, he had been arrested 38 times for various petty offenses, a testament to the challenges he faced growing up in a high-crime area.
It was during his time at the Tryon School for Boys, a juvenile detention center, that Tyson’s life began to take a turn for the better. There, he met Bobby Stewart, a former boxer turned counselor, who recognized Tyson’s potential and started training him in the sport of boxing.
After a few months of training, Stewart sent Tyson to live with his future coach, the legendary Cus D’Amato, and the rest, as they say, is history. Tyson went on to become the youngest heavyweight champion of the world, a feat that many would have deemed impossible for the young kid who once brawled with kids and their fathers.
