It would be accurate to describe legendary heavyweight champion Mike Tyson as a delinquent in his childhood. Long before becoming the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history, Tyson grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn—a neighborhood infamous for its poverty, violence, and high crime rates. Life at home offered little relief from the chaos outside.

Tyson was the youngest of three siblings, raised primarily by his mother, Lorna, who struggled to make ends meet. Although his birth certificate listed Purcell Tyson as his father, he played no role in Mike’s life. Instead, Tyson regarded a man named Jimmy ‘Curlee’ Kirkpatrick—his mother’s partner at the time—as a father figure. But even Kirkpatrick didn’t stay long. He, too, eventually abandoned the family, leaving Lorna to raise Tyson on her own.

Lorna passed away in 1982 due to cancer, just before Tyson’s 17th birthday and a boxing career that was about to take off. 43 years since then, one of Tyson’s statements about his mother in an interview featured in a report from Mark Kriegel recently, which highlighted a heartbreaking confession he made about his mother. “Did you ever get the chance to tell her that you loved her?” an interviewer once asked Tyson.

The boxing icon responded, confessing, “We didn’t have that relationship.” Lorna worked hard to support her children, often working as a domestic helper, but the demands for survival were high, leaving her and her children with limited resources. Tyson’s relationship with her was fraught, as he admitted that he loved her, but their relationship lacked closeness. This could be because Tyson was often neglected as a child, as Lorna struggled with alcoholism.

A lack of attention at home, coupled with bullying for his high-pitched voice and small stature, led Tyson to develop a tough persona. By the time he turned 10, he was already committing petty crimes, partly to survive and partly as a response to the chaos around him. This meant that as a juvenile, he was arrested multiple times and sent to reform schools, including the Tryon School for Boys in upstate New York.

This is where former boxer and juvenile detention counselor Bobby Stewart discovered Tyson in the early 1980s. Seeing the potential in him, Stewart introduced Tyson to the legendary boxing coach Cus D’Amato. After Lorna’s death, D’Amato became Tyson’s legal guardian and guided him to become one of the biggest stars in boxing. Regardless, despite the dynamic Tyson shared with his mother, the 58-year-old appreciated the role she played in his life.

Kirkpatrick explains why he left Mike Tyson and Lorna

On June 2, 2020, Tyson posted a picture of his mother, one of the only two that exist on the internet, the day he discovered it. “I’m proud to be the son of Lorna May Smith,” Tyson wrote in the caption of the post. It’s possible, Lorna, in her 20s, the one in the picture, was the mother Tyson wanted, but circumstances never let that become a reality. Perhaps if Kirkpatrick had never left, things could have been different. 

“I was a little wild back then, I think Mike was about two years old,” Kirkpatrick was quoted as saying by Lit Hub. “I had a heart attack… When I went into the hospital, things changed. I wasn’t able to support them, I wasn’t able to do the things I should’ve. And I couldn’t marry her.” He claims Lorna and he went their separate ways, and all he remembered about Tyson was “that he was a husky baby.”

It’s safe to say Mike Tyson had a lot of childhood trauma, which shaped his later life. As unfortunate and sad as it is to think, without his troubled past, he would never have become ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet.’ What do you make of Tyson’s confession?