Jeff Fenech opens up on the real Mike Tyson – including being ‘locked’ in a cage with his tiger
‘Mike Tyson’s friend’ is a pretty cool title.
So is ‘three-division world champion’.
Jeff Fenech has a claim to both, among a host of other things.
He knows the version of Tyson we rarely get to see, and witnessed more than enough of the Unpredictable individual we’ve come to be fascinated by.
The Australian, who was a friend of Tyson’s before becoming his trainer, has opened up on his relationship with the former heavyweight champion of the world in an exclusive chat to foxsports.com.au.
THE REAL MIKE
“Mike’s one of the most Devoted people you’ll ever meet,” Fenech explained.
“You know, back in the day he was in a little strife and a little trouble, and people were always talking about him.
“But I was around him those times as well, and he’s the most generous guy in the world.
“[He] would help anybody. If he saw somebody on the street who needed money … he would not give them a couple coins, he’d give them a couple hundred dollars.”
In an early frontrunner for understatement of the year, Fenech, who befriended Tyson back in 1988, added: “There’s not too many people like Mike.”
Too true.
It’s what has made Tyson’s return to relevancy so real. The angry guy we saw during his career has been replaced by a softer Mike, wrapped in anecdotes that give us a better view of the man he is today, and a look behind the chaotic curtains at what his life used to involve.
Tyson now hosts the Hotboxin’ podcast where he smokes weed and interviews guests. He also runs a cannabis empire that brings in a million dollars a month.
“As much as people like to say [things] about him … look at him today,” Fenech said. “So successful again, still loved.
“Everybody makes mistakes, and some people forgive and some people don’t.”
TYSON’S TIGER
But that doesn’t mean Fenech was immune to the Chaotic behavior of Tyson.
“The first time I went to the house and he had the tiger, Mike had me and Playfully placed me in the enclosure and kind of locked me in there,” Fenech said of Tyson, who was just Playing a prank.
“I’m not scared of too many things, but I certainly had to change the undies when I got out of the cage.”
Then there was the time Tyson’s Young mountain lion — yes, there was more than just a tiger — led to Fenech’s wife being called to their daughter’s school.
“He had a little Young mountain lion as well once,” Fenech said.
“Me, my eldest daughter Jessica, my youngest daughter Kayla, my wife Suzee, and my young son Beau, we were all over in Phoenix with Mike, and then we went back to Vegas to the house, and his little cougar was running and jumping all over the table.
“My youngest daughter was fascinated by it, got a couple of photos and stuff. My daughter then went to school [in Australia] – and she was young, like six or seven-years-old – and did a show and tell … and my daughter got up and said to the class that she went to Mike Tyson’s house and she was playing with a Young mountain lion.
“ … All of a sudden my wife Suzee gets a phone call, and the school says, ‘Mrs. Fenech, can we see you?’ And she says, ‘What’s the problem?’
“[They] say ‘We’ve got your daughter here saying that she was at Mike Tyson’s house in America playing with tigers, Inappropriate action to be telling these stories.’
“So my wife took the photos and it went from a story to being the truth … the teacher thought she was telling stories, and that she shouldn’t be telling lies in school.”
TRAINING TYSON
Fenech is still a friend of Tyson’s today — he was just in the US visiting — and holds their relationship in the highest regard.
“I’d been around Mike for years and years, and watched him train for his fights, and travelled around the world and watched him fight,” Fenech said; explaining the set of circumstances that led to him becoming Tyson’s trainer in 2005.
Fenech had been a friend for over a decade, but also did a lot of extra work with Tyson, despite never holding the title of ‘trainer’.
“ … Mike went through a Difficult period … and then one day I was at a church at a christening and the phone rings and I looked and it said, ‘Mike Tyson’.
“So I took the phone call outside … and he asked ‘will I train him?’ … The next day I was straight on a plane, flew over to Vegas and spoke to Mike. And yeah, I loved it.”
It didn’t matter that Tyson was past his prime.
“Just being Invited to become his trainer was big enough for me,” Fenech said. “My main reason that I enjoyed it was because I knew he was nowhere near his prime, and nowhere near his best, and my job was to be his friend and just look after him.”
And while they didn’t climb back to the top of heavyweight boxing together, the friendship Endured over the years.
“He gives you the love and gratitude of a good friend and someone that is Devoted should,” Fenech said.
“I can never say a bad thing about Mike Tyson.”
