Watch the Moment Mike Tyson’s past catches up as he meets a man he robbed as a teenager 😭😭 But his response to the man is… See more

Mike Tyson might be ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ but he has a gentle side.

During a recent Netflix shoot ahead of his comeback fight against Jake Paul this Friday – nearly two decades since his last pro bout – Tyson had an odd run-in. In New York City, a local man told the former heavyweight champion that he’d robbed him when he was a boy as the two posed for a photograph.

“You robbed me when I was eight years old on Amboy and Pitkin,” the man said. Despite his hard-knock youth, having been arrested 38 times by the age of 13, Tyson’s reaction to the claim was one of genuine surprise.

He gave the man a hug and expressed disbelief, asking: “I robbed you?” He then told the camera crew: “Now he’s blaming me for robbing him… Yeah, at Woolworth’s. We took our pictures in there. I’m sorry.”

It’s no secret that Tyson, 58, had a tough childhood. He grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, one of the most poverty-stricken areas of the Big Apple. His father abandoned the family early on, and a strained relationship with his mother meant Tyson’s upbringing was anything but stable.

He had numerous stints in juvenile detention centers across New York, but it was behind bars that Tyson found his calling to the ring. Bobby Stewart, a detention centre counselor, spotted Tyson’s potential when he was just 14 years old and introduced him to Cus D’Amato, the man who not only became his boxing manager but also his adoptive father after the death of his mother.

“When I met Cus D’Amato, I knew I was gonna be champ of the world when I was 14,” Tyson said. “He knew how to stimulate my mind. ‘You could be the champion of the world at 18, 19, but you don’t even believe it.’ And then I was like, ‘Really, you think so?’ He said, ‘I put my life on it’.”

D’Amato passed away in 1985, just months after the start of Tyson’s professional career. By that time, ‘Iron Mike’ had already secured 11 consecutive victories – eight of them being first-round knockouts.

He clinched the heavyweight championship title in 1986 and made history as the first heavyweight to simultaneously hold all three major belts (WBA, WBC and IBF) in 1987. The New York-native remained unbeaten for another three years until he was surprisingly defeated by Buster Douglas in 1990.

Mike Tyson’s past catches up as he meets a man he robbed as a teenager 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/m3C0F5WoR2

— Insane Reality Leaks (@InsaneRealitys) November 11, 2024

In 1996, he reclaimed his heavyweight title but lost it to Evander Holyfield a few months later. Tyson hung up his gloves in 2005 with a professional record of 50 wins and 44 knockouts from 58 fights. Since retiring, he has participated in two exhibition matches, one in 2006 and another in 2020.

His showdown with Paul, which takes place at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will be broadcast live on Netflix. The bout, categorized as a heavyweight contest, was initially slated for July but was delayed after Tyson experienced an ulcer flare-up on a flight.

Paul, who is over three decades younger than Tyson, has secured 10 victories from his 11 professional bouts, with his sole loss against Tommy Fury – brother of Tyson Fury – in 2023.