Mike Tyson didn’t have to face consequences for his past sins. While in Brownsville ahead of his upcoming fight with Jake Paul, the former heavyweight champion unexpectedly met a fan he had robbed decades earlier.
But, the encounter proved that time indeed heals old wounds, as reported by the New York Post.
“You robbed me when I was 8 years old on Amboy and Pitkin,” the fan told Tyson, as seen in Netflix’s “Countdown: Paul vs. Tyson” documentary series.
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“I robbed you?” Tyson said. “Now he’s blaming me for robbing him. … (Racial slur) got robbed.”
The fan laughed it off as Tyson hugged him.
“He robbed me when I was a kid, bro,” the fan said. “On Pitkin, by the Woolworth’s store. You remember Woolworth’s?”
Tyson replied: “We took pictures in there.”
He used the opportunity to apologise for his action decades ago.
“I’m sorry, bro,” Tyson said.
The fan, however, isn’t holding any grudges.
“No, don’t worry about it, baby” he said.
Tyson, 58, moved to Brownsville, Brooklyn at age 10 and, as detailed in his autobiography, was arrested 38 times by age 13, according to Rolling Stone.
The documentary spoke of Brownsville’s high crime rate, with Tyson describing his time there as “hell.” He also pointed out a spot where he used to pickpocket people.
“My whole life was about crime,” Tyson said. “There was nothing special about being a criminal here.”
Despite becoming an international star and heavyweight champion, the tough times in Brownsville left a lasting mark on Tyson.
“It lets me know I’m nobody,” Tyson said while being inside his childhood home in the episode. “Sometimes I think I’m somebody but when I come back here, I realize I’m nobody.”
He added: “Some things I did when I was young in Brownsville, you just never forget what you’re capable of doing. … That pretty much shaped my personality in life.”
Tyson is set to defy the doubters as he prepares to face Paul in his first professional fight since 2005 and first bout since 2020.
Initially scheduled for July, the fight was postponed by four months due to a medical emergency in May, during which Tyson revealed he had thrown up blood.
“Coming here from Miami on the plane, I went to the bathroom, and I threw up blood. Next thing I know I’m on the floor and I was defecating tar,” Tyson said in an episode. “So I came (to the hospital), they said I had a big ulcer, two and a half inches, it was bleeding. All my friends were calling me like I’m dying.”
