‘She Embarrassed Me a Bit’: Mike Tyson’s Mother’s Begging and Lack of ‘Respect’ Caused a Strain in Their Relationship

Boxing legend Mike Tyson had a tumultuous childhood that he has publically spoken about many times. The former heavyweight champion was raised by a single mother who took care of a young Tyson until she passed away in 1982, five years before Iron Mike became the heavyweight champion of the world.

His mother’s death was especially bad for him because he never got a chance to make amends for their rocky relationship. Moreover, Tyson even revealed that his mother thought of him as a criminal when he was a teenager.

Mike Tyson reveals his mother thought of him as a criminal

In the 27th page of his book Undisputed, Tyson stated that his mother knew about all his criminal activities. He also claimed that she believed he would either die or never amount to anything in life. Moreover, Tyson also revealed that he indeed was stealing on a regular basis and didn’t have any boundaries regarding morality.’

“It was no surprise to my mother and my sister that I was robbing and doing antisocial things to bring money in. They saw my nice clothes, and I’d bring them food—pizza and Burger King and McDonald’s. My mother knew I was up to no good, but by that time she knew it was too late. The streets had me. She thought that I was a criminal and I would die or never turn out to be shit. She’d probably seen it before, kids like me being like that. I would steal anything from anybody. I didn’t have any boundaries.” he said

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This was not all, he also detailed how he was embarrassed by his mother even after his boxing career started to take off. Moreover, he also mentioned that this caused a strain on their already rocky relationship.

Tyson’s mother’s lack of respect caused a strain on their relationship

In the next paragraph ‘Iron Mike’ stated that he used to send money to his sister to take care of their mother. However, his mother took this for granted and refused to pay him back which he felt was disrespectful.

“My mother would prefer to beg. She embarrassed me a bit, because she was too honest. She was always asking for money; that’s just the
way she was. I gave my sister a lot of money for the house to help my- mom out. Sometimes I’d give my mother a hundred bucks and she wouldn’t pay me back, She didn’t respect me like that. I’d say, “You owe me some money, Ma.” And she’d just say, “You owe me your life,
boy, I’m not paying you back.”  he added

Tyson and his mother were never able to come to terms with each other which left a hole in their relationship. However, despite the animosity between the two, ‘Iron Mike’ did care for her mother and will certainly regret not fixing their relationship before her death.

What did you think about Tyson feeling embarrassed and disrespected by his mother? Let us know in the comments.

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