Some more stuff I've found about a 'young' Tyson (below)...


At 12 years old he'd have $10 bets with the staff at Tyron School, he'd bench press 200lbs for an insane ammout of reps! At 13 years old he'd be heard in his room grunting and groaning at 3-4am practising his defensive moves and shadow boxing, this was before he got to the Catskills. He was a big lad, he weighed 200lbs 'solid' at just 13 years old.

Rooney says that Mike used to love to work on the exercise bike before he went to bed, this is how his tree trunk thighs were built - Mike would pedal with huge pressure at unbelievable pace, always trying to beat personal bests. Rooney didn't want Mike to work on the exercise bike but Mike enjoyed it and he had to keep Mike happy. Tyson's favourite food was Captain Crunch, and Rooney allowed him to eat it by the box load to fill him up, Tyson had a problem with always being hungry and Rooney had to keep him happy - so he ate boxes of Captain Crunch to fill him up. Also, Mike apparently could eat plate fulls of steak at a time and loved abit of pasta, and it wasn't uncommon for Mike to say that he was hungry and wanted dinner just half an hour after lunch! Also, at the Catskills, Tyson NEVER used weights! He used NO weights at all back then, he didn't start using weights until he left Rooney in 1988 and he didn't start using weights seriously until he was in prison.