Mike Tyson is known for his elaborate lifestyle, so it's no surprise the boxing champ has spent thousands of dollars on exotic animals.
The former boxer allegedly spent $70,000 on his Bengal tigers and even more money to maintain the living and food expenses.
The food bill alone was costing Tyson $200,000 a year. According to TheRichest, the cat ate on average 40 pounds a day. Tyson also paid $125,000 a year to have the tigers trained by a certified coach. Tiger training makes dog training look like a walk in the park.
There's much speculation as to why Tyson had to give up the exotic pet. Some reports say it was due to money problems. In an interview with GQ Sports, however, Tyson revealed Kenya was in poor health and bit someone's arm off. If anyone knows of Kenya's whereabouts, we have a few questions.
He explained, “I did have a pet tiger, her name was Kenya and she was around 550 pounds."
“I had a great affection for her; I kept her, I slept with her, I kept her in my room... She stayed with me, I had her about 16 years... but she got too old and I had to get rid of her when her eyes and her head got bad... Oh, and she ripped somebody’s arm off.”
The boxing icon joined The Joe Rogan Experience podcast last year and revealed how he acquired the tigers.
Tom Segura: “What made you think you could get a tiger?”
Mike Tyson: “This is really interesting. I’m in prison at the time. So I’m in prison, I’m talking to my car dealer at the time and he has some cars that belong to a [mutual friend], and he’s discussing ‘if he doesn’t pay for these cars, I’m going to sell these cars to somebody and get some horses.’ I said ‘what, you can get horses? And trade horses in for cars?’ Because I had a lot of cars, I’d probably get some horses too. And he said ‘yeah man, you can get cougars, lions, tigers…’ I said ‘you do? Can you get me some tigers?’ The guy said ‘imagine how cool that would be?’ Because I had a bunch of fancy cars, ‘imagine that man, you’d be in an Aston Martin or a Ferrari. You’d have a tiger right next to you, man. That’d be so awesome.’ And I’m a young guy. I’m saying to myself ‘wow, that would be cool. Get me some cubs, man.'”
Related: Mike Tyson Jailed 38 Times Before 13 And Visited By Tupac
Tyson retired from boxing in 2005. Since then, he has been featured in many projects including 2009's The Hangover. He now has his own podcast, Hotboxin With Mike Tyson where the former boxer "pours his soul into conversations with fascinating minds, celebrities, and athletes in a studio full of smoke."
Guess the branding of the podcast makes sense since Tyson runs a cannabis farm.
Tyson was once one of the most ferocious boxers of all time, so it's not surprising he was attracted to one of the most ferocious animals in the world too.