MIKE TYSON SPEAKS ON LOSING 140 POUNDS AND TURNING TO VEGETARIANISM (1622 hits)
Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson says he’s always been a “fat kid.”
Tyson, now also known for racing pigeons and his one-man show “Undisputed Truth,” turned to veganism to help his diet.
If I don't continue to watch my diet and exercise and take care of myself I balloon to a lot of weight,” Tyson said to ABC News. “ I've always been a fat kid. I was 380 and now I weigh 240.”
Tyson did a six-part Animal Planet series, “Taking on Tyson,” about his racing pigeons. He trained his pigeons at a two-story coop in Jersey City.
He said he’s been raising pigeons all his life. According to The Jersey Journal, Tyson told PETA activists who criticized his racing that the pigeons "are given water and food every day. They are medicated so they don't get sick and have plenty of space."
NJ.com reported that in March Tyson donated one of his pigeons to an auction that raised money for Hurricane Sandy relief. The bird sold for $160.
Tyson says he’s been a vegan for about four and a half years. But one of the “highlights” of Tyson’s boxing career was biting the ear of Evander Holyfield. That didn’t remain part of Tyson’s diet, because he says he spit it right out.
“It was really disgusting,” Tyson said, according to ABC News. “Many years later Holyfield gave me some of his barbeque sauce, and I was telling him his ear would have tasted a lot better if he used some of that barbeque sauce.”
Tysonontour.com reports that “Undisputed Truth” is scheduled for the Performing Arts Center in Newark on April 25.
