Mike Tyson is known to be quite the character. Throughout his life, he has accomplished a lot and at the same time found the most unusual things to do. But did you know at one point in his life, he offered money to a zookeep so that he could punch a gorilla?

In the late 80s, Mike Tyson offered $10,000 to a zookeeper so that he could go inside the enclosure and punch a gorilla that was bullying the other primates. The zookeeper declined.

The Incident at the Zoo

In the 1980s, Tyson was the unbeaten heavyweight champion and was known to be one of the most dangerous fighters in the world. Having said so, he was completely fearless. One night, Tyson closed out the entire zoo, so that he and his girlfriend, Robin Givens could visit the animals in peace without getting bothered by his fans. 

While visiting the primate enclosure Tyson noticed that the silverback gorilla was bullying the other primates and he wanted to put him in his place by fighting him. 

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 one big silverback gorilla there just bullying 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 snot box. He declined.

Mike Tyson

But don’t get him wrong, Tyson had always been fond of animals that he even owned pet tigers that lived in his mansion. He would fondly talk about his tiger Kenya and how much he loved her. (Source: Sportskeeda)

How Hard Is Mike Tyson’s Punch? 

Mike Tyson was one of the most feared fighters in boxing history. While he may not be the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) he is still one of the most iconic figures in the sport. He is also known to deliver powerful punches. While it is quite difficult to actually gauge his striking power, the Thrillist devised a way to quantify how hard Tyson can punch. 

Frank Bruno a boxer whom Tyson had knocked out twice, and Thrillist a media company that covers sports and boxing say Bruno did get his punching power estimated at the peak of his boxing career.

Bruno punched with 1,420 pounds of force, and Thrillist assumed Tyson could punch the same. It is a fair assumption to make since, again, Bruno fought Tyson twice, and Tyson knocked Bruno out on both occasions.

Thrillist computed the values, and if Tyson had that amount of power, his punches would generate at least 1,178 lb-ft of force, equal to 1,600 joules of energy.

According to Thrillist, that amount of power is equivalent to Simon Cowell of American Idol running you over on a Vespa at 9 mph. It’d also be the equivalent of being hit by a dorm fridge full of beer after falling out of a second-story window. To be fair, there are some strange parallels, but none that we would volunteer for. (Source: Sportscasting)