Fort Lauderdale Magazine: Hi Mike. How are you?
Mike Tyson: How you doing, Deb? I’m good. Thank you. I hope you are as well.
FLMag: I’m doing great. Thank you for asking. It’s such a pleasure to meet you. You are like a pitbull and still regarded as one of the greatest and youngest heavyweight boxers of all time.
MT: Yes, I’ve been doing it for a long time.
FLMag: Let’s begin by talking about your difficult childhood in Brooklyn.
MT: Whatever you think a city kid doesn’t have, that was me.
FLMag: You overcame many difficulties in your life, and then, as fate had it, something glorious happened at 13. But before that, you became obsessed with pigeons. How did they bring you peace?
MT: I was a young kid at 10 years old. I stopped going to school. I would go to school, eat breakfast, and then when breakfast was over, I wouldn’t go to class. I wouldn’t hang around the school because people would bully me. I didn’t want to deal with this. I [would go], eat lunch and then wait, hang around until it was time to go home. This one particular day, there were three guys [who] attempted to rob me. I said, I don’t have any money. [One] guy said, ‘You want to fly with us?’ I didn’t know what that meant. I said, ‘Yeah, I don’t know that many kids.’ They made me climb the fence and get those crates. I was like a flunky. I climbed the fence. I threw the milk crates over the fence. They made me carry the crate to the somewhat abandoned building. I got nervous. Then they say, ‘go up there.’ I went upstairs. They told me to go to the roof, and I got even more scared. When I got on the roof, I saw pigeons in a pigeon coop. It was a horrible coop, but to me, it was beautiful. I never saw trained animals before, and they would fly these birds and [they would] come back. And when school was over, they told me to go back home. They had me; I was like their gopher. I would chase the birds. The birds went to another roof. I had to go into that building and chase the birds off that roof. And I thought that was cool. The next day, I came back to the roof, and they thought I was coming back to steal that bird, and they started throwing rocks from the roof at me. I said, ‘No, I didn’t come to steal a bird. Will you let me help you and do what I did yesterday for y’all?’ So I got to learn how to fly pigeons by these guys.
FLMag: Weren’t you tough enough then to fight them, though?
MT: No, I never had to fight in my life then.
FLMag: Okay, so until then as fate had it, you were in juvenile detention.
MT: I was 11, and once I had my first fight, I won. I fought every day. Three fights a day. You found that first fight. That was love at first fight. I wanted to be a tough guy in the neighborhood. And then I got arrested. Then I went into this other reform school, then I ran into a boxer that introduced me to Cus D’Amato at 12.
FLMag: He took you right under his wing. What role did he play in your life at that point?
MT: He plays my mother, my father, my psychiatrist, my doctor. He wore many hats.
FLMag: You were very fortunate to have that in your life. Did Cus teach you anything other than fighting?
MT: Discipline. He told me, ‘Discipline was doing what you hate to do, but doing it like you love it.’
FLMag: It makes perfect sense. So he planned your entire career and built your confidence.
MT: He built my confidence. That’s an understatement. He gave me an ego. I never knew what it was like to love myself and be in love with myself.
FLMag: Well, that’s because he believed in you.
MT: When no one else did, he believed in me more than I believed in myself.
FLMag: He saved you from crime and gave you many, many opportunities.
MT: He gave me everything. He gave me the power to come back, to be resilient. He told me you have to want to be up, more than anybody in the world who wants you to be down.
FLMag: Well, you could have gone down another road, if it wasn’t for him.
MT: I believe I wasn’t meant to go down that road. It was meant for me to meet that man.
FLMag: Yes, it was. He taught you how to translate your inner rage to work in your favor.
MT: Oh, boy did he. He didn’t care about money. He didn’t care about not being the best fighter in the world. That’s why he was so incredible.
FLMag: So tell me something. What is your own definition of fighting? Mike Tyson’s definition of fighting, not the dictionary term.
MT: I think my definition of fighting is to the end, to the end with the last punch, that’s fighting to the end.
FLMag: That’s a good answer. I know that you’re going to be talking about all of this on stage. I just wanted to go over a couple of the accolades, like in 2009 you starred in The Hangover and also made seven documentaries. In 2011, you were inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame. Congratulations, by the way, on that.
MT: Thank you.
FLMag: So you’re bringing that new live one man visual show called Return of the Mike, and we’re all looking forward to it. And your wife, she also plays a big part in that, I understand.
MT: Yes, she’s the writer. Kiki is very silly and very entertaining.
FLMag: Is this your first time on stage and since your last fight?
MT: This is the first time since my last fight.
FLMag: I heard the show was honest and hilarious. Tell me what we can expect from this Return of the Mike show.
MT: It’s just stuff that anyone knows about but didn’t know the insight about.
FLMag: And you’re making it funny and enjoyable. I want the readers to know that the performance at the Hard Rock will be taped also for an upcoming special that millions will see globally. Your wife will help you. Will she also be on stage?
MT: She’s a behind the scenes queen.
FLMag: I truly commend you for overcoming that vicious environment and turning your life around. I know it took hard work, and I’m sure it wasn’t easy for you. It’s not easy for anybody. And you went from rags to riches in your mind, and your money and everything.
MT: So I look at it this way: poor is just a state of mind. Poor has nothing to do with money, and riches has nothing to do with money. It’s all about frame of mind.
FLMag: I understand you’re living in Delray Beach. Have you been there a while?
MT: Two years.
FLMag: After the Return of the Mike, we can prepare ourselves for your fight with Mayweather. Is it a signed deal?
MT: It’s a signed deal. Yes. Right now it’s spring of 2026. We don’t have an exact date.
FLMag: Are you considering the upcoming fight your 60th birthday present to yourself? [Laughs].
MT: I never thought about it that way.
FLMag: Well, Mike, you went from boxing to entertaining to entrepreneurship. What is next in your career?
MT: Hey, sky is the limit. Maybe I will work on becoming a better father.
FLMag: Oh, I’m sure you’re already the best father.
MT: I’m sure you can always be a better one. You can always be a better person, a better brother, better sister. You always improve yourself. Yes, it’s limitless.
FLMag: I truly wish you the best in health and life. Thank you very much for your time and many blessings to you and your family.
MT: Thank you, ma’am. Thank you so much.
FLMag: Of course. Good luck, Mike. God bless.
MT: God bless you.
