Shaq Recalls Scary Encounter With Mike Tyson’s Pet Tiger
Shaquille O'Neal and Mike Tyson's friendship goes back a long way. They met in the mid 1990s when the legendary boxing was serving time in prison following his 1992 rape conviction.
Shaq was a rising star with the Orlando Magic after he was the team's No. 1 overall pick in the 1992 NBA Draft. During his time with the Magic, Shaq recalled on his podcast that the team was in Indiana playing the Pacers. His friend, William Wesley, who is now an executive in the New York Knicks' front office, invited him to go visit Mike.
"Mike, who?" Shaq recalled at the time.
It turned out Wesley meant the Mike Tyson.
Related: The Origin Behind Mike Tyson's Infamous 'I Want to Eat His Children' Interview Revealed
The former heavyweight champion recalled on the podcast he had no idea Shaq was coming to visit him. They hit it off right away, much so that Tyson invited Shaq to come see him fight when he got out of prison.
After serving three years in prison, Tyson was released from prison on March 25, 1995. His first fight came against Peter McNeeley on Aug. 19, 1995 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. But before the fights, Shaq made a pitstop.
"Before his fight he says, 'Hey, come to the house.' So we come to his house, ring the bell. I hear, 'Come in.' So, I open the door right. There's nobody in the lobby," Shaq says. "So, I wanna make myself at home, I start walking. A tiger comes running down the stairs. A real, white tiger comes running down the stairs."
Shaq then joked that he crapped his pants, "a lot."
"So, I turn around ... and then Mike came and he starts wrestling the tiger. I tell my boy, 'I'm not a gambling man but I wish I had a million dollars to put on the fight. I just seen this man stop a full grown tiger. He's about to kill this dude.'"
Shaq was right. Tyson destroyed McNeeley in just 89 seconds.
As if the tiger story wasn't already shocking, Shaq also shockingly learned during the podcast that Tyson slept with his tiger.