Mike Tyson remarkably described his time in prison as ‘the best three years of my life’.
The former undisputed heavyweight world champion is now 58 years old and a very different personality to the wilder man of his youth – this is largely due to his time behind bars.
As a youngster, Tyson spent a lot of time in juvenile detention centres, which ultimately led him to begin his boxing journey.
His introduction to the sport, and to trainer Cus D’Amato, had a transformative impact on his life and saw him avoid serious trouble with the law for a number of years.
In 1992 though, Tyson was convicted of the rape of Desiree Washington and sentenced to six years in prison.
He always insisted everything had taken place with Washington’s full consent and denied ever forcing himself on her.
Describing his time inside, Tyson explained on an episode of The Pivot podcast in 2022: “I’m just very grateful – I’m a cool guy, I’m a good person, I treated everybody nice.
“I had the best three years of my life in prison.”
Asked if he missed his financial fortune while behind bars, Tyson replied: “I had peace though.
“That don’t mean nothing when you don’t have peace. Just sit there within your balance.
“You need your sanity to dictate any part of life.”
Tyson kept up an impressive training routine in prison to prepare him for his return to the ring.
“I was doing running,” he revealed, “Doing eight or nine miles around.
“And at night time I would run for four hours, just in my room. I would jump and stuff, just jumping up.
“My cell has a concrete floor, right? I indented it with my feet into the concrete floor. I was 285lbs. I came out 215lbs.
During his three-year spell in prison, Tyson converted to Islam and worked on character development.
The celebrity status he had built earlier on in his career remained and he was visited by musician Tupac Shakur while behind bars.
Tyson earned himself an early release in 1995 and returned to the ring with a quick knockout win over Peter McNeeley.
Asked how that win felt, he said: “Yeah, it was, ‘I’m back from prison motherf***ers, y’all didn’t break me.’ My ego was going crazy and stuff.
“Everybody was talking, ‘Mike is over, he’s in prison, nobody ever came back from prison and was the same guy.’ I just wanted to change their minds.”
Tyson has never returned to prison since being released and remains a free man to this day.
On November 15, he will return to the ring to take on Jake Paul in a controversial clash.
Despite his advanced age, the Texas Commission have sanctioned the fight for Tyson as an official pro bout.
While he may be free from prison, Tyson will seemingly never be a free man from boxing.
