With Mike Tyson 50 on Thursday, Press Association Sport explores some lesser-known facts about the former world heavyweight champion.
At 11 years old, Tyson was a member of a gang known as the Jolly Stompers. While the older members would hold victims at gunpoint, he would clean out cash registers. By the age of 13 he had been arrested more than 30 times over his petty criminal activities.
His first street-fight - before he began to box - came when he was 10 years old after a thug killed one of his prize pigeons.
Ahead of his first amateur boxing tournament, he was so fearful he tried to locate the train station to return home. When he returned having not found it, he won after knocking out every opponent in the first round.
In 1989, Central State University awarded Tyson, a high school dropout, an honorary doctorate of human letters for his positive influence on young people.
During the prison sentence that began in 1992, he was found guilty of threatening a guard. The incident added 15 days to his six-year sentence.
While in prison he converted to Islam, and adopted the name Malik Abdul Aziz.
Having filed a $100million lawsuit against Don King in U.S. District Court in New York in 1998, he eventually settled out of court for $14million.
Source: PA
