Mike Tyson Once Offered Zookeeper $10,000 to Let Him Fight Silverback Gorilla

Mike Tyson has become super famous not only for his reputation as one of the most savage boxers in history. His life outside the ring is as colorful as his storied career. Remember that ear-biting incident with Evander Holyfield?

But that’s not the only outrageous thing he has done. Iron Mike actually tried to fight a gorilla – yes, a GORILLA – for $10,000!

Who’s crazy enough to fight a gorilla, let alone pay for it? Only Iron Mike Tyson!

It was in the 80s and Mike was strolling at the zoo with his then-partner Robin Given. It was supposed to be closed already, but Mike bribed a zoo employee to open it for them. They reached the gorilla exhibit and Mike noticed that one of the gorillas was mocking the other primates.

As an animal lover, the boxer couldn’t bear to see this. So Mike offered the zookeeper a whopping $10,000 to open the cage so he can go inside and punch the living daylights out of the unsuspecting animal. If this is not enough evidence that Mike may be a little crazy, we don’t know what is.

As the boxer himself recalled the incident:

“I paid a worker at New York’s zoo to re-open it just for me and Robin. When we got to the gorilla cage there was 1 big Silverback gorilla there just bul!ying all the other gorillas. They were so powerful but their eyes were like an innocent infant. I offered the attendant $10,000 to open the cage and let smash that silverback’s snotbox! He declined.”

Good decision by the zookeeper, obviously.

Mike wanted to punch one of these.

If you think it’s crazy because you’re afraid that Mike can actually beat the gorilla…well, you haven’t seen gorillas fight. It’s Mike you should be afraid for because the gorilla would have totally pulverized him.

Watch Silverback gorilla fight:

So how’s the chances of a professional fighter to win against a gorilla?

Unless the gorilla is somehow hobbled (lamed, etc.), or the human fighter is armed (especially with something like a spear that can hold the gorilla off at a distance), the gorilla will ki!l the human and then be vaguely dejected that the human wasn’t able to put up enough of a challenge to be interesting.

A male gorilla significantly outweighs most professional fighters. Being a wild animal, the gorilla will throw 100 percent of his available resources into the fight from the word go. Humans, even professional fighters or soldiers, never do this, unless they are in such a state of psychosis that they might as well be wild animals.

Also, the gorilla has fangs.