Mike Tyson started keeping pigeons as a bullied Brooklyn boy, finding love and comfort in them; decades later, he still has hundreds of birds across the US

• Long before Mike Tyson became one of boxing's most feared heavyweight champions, pigeons were a source of love and comfort for him.
• Tyson has recalled being bullied as a child growing up in Brooklyn and finding refuge in the pigeons he kept, saying that spending time with them helped take his mind off the world around him and the people who picked on him.
• The birds became so important that Tyson later described pigeons as the first loving relationship he ever had.