Mike Tyson used to fight the fathers of his street fighting victims during his tumultuous upbringing in 1970s New York.
The former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world famously grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn and developed a fearsome reputation in his local neighbourhood.
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At a speaking event hosted by Valuetainment in 2021, Tyson spoke in depth about his time street fighting as he revealed his life before finding boxing.
"All the time [I was street fighting], for money, yes," Tyson began.
"I must've had like three or four fights a day. For money or I was robbing somebody."
When asked if he had a reputation in the streets at this time, Tyson replied: "Yes, yes, yes."
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He was next asked if he was a knockout artist even back then and again answered: "Yes, yes, yes."
Tyson continued: "I'm talking about from like age nine, ten. This stuff just came natural, that's what I was made to do.
"All of the tough guys and the criminal guys wanted to hang out with me. They put me in their gang."
Tyson astonishingly added: "I was this size at 12 years old, I was 200lbs [14 stone] at 12 years old.
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"Listen, I was fighting the kid, then I was fighting their fathers. I'm serious.
"I might've hit them too hard, they were crying, went home and got their father. Then I would fight the father.
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"My right hand to God, I'm telling the truth."
Street fighting was far from Tyson's only law-breaking activity as a youngster.
He grew up in areas with high crime rate and had been arrested 38 times by age 13 for various petty offences.
As a result, he was sent to a juvenile detention centre and, from there, began to find success in life.
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It was at the Tryon School for Boys where Tyson met Bobby Stewart - a former boxer turned counsellor who uncovered his boxing talent and started training him.
After a few months, Steward sent Tyson to live with his future boxing coach Cus D'Amato and the rest is history.
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