Dead pigeon prompted Mike Tyson's first fight

In "Taking On Tyson”, a new three-part programme which begins tonight on the Discovery channel, “Iron Mike” – the self-styled “baddest man on the planet” – explains how, when he was just 10, he was confronted by a thug who killed one of his prize “tippler” pigeons.

Tyson says: "The guy ripped the head off my pigeon. This was the first thing I ever loved in my life, the pigeon.” The enraged Tyson responded by throwing his first fist in anger.

The boxer, who would go on to have one of the most successful fighting careers of the modern era, has always been a keen pigeon fancier.

He says that his hobby has helped him when times have been good and also when they have been bad, such as in 1992, when he was imprisoned for six years for rape. “I don't know why, I feel ridiculous just trying to explain it,” he says. “[Pigeons] are just so much like people.”