Former undisputed heavyweight Boxing champion of the world, Iron Mike Tyson has revealed that he was involved in “just one” fight while in prison. Tyson was sentenced to six years in prison in 1992 after he was convicted of rape. He was released three years later.
In 1986, at the age of just 20, Tyson was crowned heavyweight champion of the world when he destroyed Trevor Berbick, becoming the youngest boxer to win a world title.
Tyson rarely speaks about his incarceration but told rapper Fat Joe that he kept himself to himself.
“I treated anybody the way I wanted them to treat me,” Tyson said.
“And that’s just how it was. They weren’t scared of me. It all came down to respect,” he explained.
However, despite largely staying out of trouble, the hard-hitting heavyweight champion admitted he did have one fight inside the Indiana Youth Center.
“Just one time (I had to punch someone),” he later revealed on ‘Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson‘.
“Somebody said something and I just went over there and hit him.
“We were locked down for a long time and it was just something that was irritable and I went over there and hit him. We were locked down and couldn’t go to the gym.
“Somebody got stabbed or something and we were locked down.
“I was just upset and miserable,” he explained.
During his three-year stay, Tyson converted to Islam and began to work on himself as a person. Despite his rehabilitation, the celebrity status he had earned earlier on in his career remained, with none other than close friend Tupac Shakur paying him a visit
“The guards didn’t like him, the inmates got rowdy and pumped up when he came which is a safety concern. He was a bolt of energy there,” Tupac revealed.
“When he came in everybody knew him, he had mad respect. That’s how he lived his life, he had mad respect.”
