Mike Tyson once offered a zookeeper $10,000 to let the former heavyweight champion fight a silverback gorilla.

No, this isn't April Fool's Day, and no we aren't just making it up for the headlines. It's a genuine true story.

Tyson told the story of how his offer was declined on a day he’d hired out the entire zoo just for him and his wife at the time Robin Givens. Who knew he had such a soft, romantic side, eh?!

Tyson said: “I paid a worker at New York’s zoo to re-open it just for me and Robin.

“When we got to the gorilla cage there was one big silverback gorilla there just bullying all the other gorillas.

“They were so powerful but their eyes were like an innocent infant.

I offered the attendant $10,000 to open the cage and let smash that silverback’s snot box. He declined.

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Iron Mike vs a gorilla isn't as bad as some of the boxing fights we're seeing these days in all honesty...

Tyson did, however, get his opportunity to own and wrestle with powerful animals in the following years.

Tyson kept, and wrestled, multiple white tigers in his home for more than a decade between the 1990s/2000s.

He explained: “I had three of them in my house.

“This is how it happened, I was in prison and I was talking to one of my friends who I bought exotic cars from.

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ENTER GIVEAWAY

“He was saying a friend he knew owed him money.

“And he said, ‘If he doesn’t pay me any money, I’mma take some of these cars and trade them in for some animals.’

“I said, ‘What kind of animals?’ He said, ‘Horses and stuff. Mike they have some nice tigers and lions too. If you got one of those that would be so cool.’

“I said, ‘Yeah that would be true. Why don’t you order me a couple? I’m getting out in a couple of months.’

“So when I got out I came home and I had two cubs.”

The life of Mike Tyson... it really is the gift that keeps on giving.