Mike Tyson and pigeons, a relationship like no other. 

The former world champion boxer recently invited a family member of another boxing great to check his collection out, as the grandson of Muhammad Ali Nico Ali Walsh met up with Tyson in what looks to be the pigeons shelter itself. 

In a video surfacing across social media, Tyson can be seen showcasing a bird to Walsh, as well as several other pigeons. 

The pigeon collection certainly shows how far Tyson has come, with the 55-year-old formerly the owner of a pet tiger during his career. 

It’s been reported that Tyson has a collection of over 1,000 birds, with his love affair for pigeons a relationship that stems back to when he was growing up in Brooklyn, New York.

In an interview with Tony Robbins, ‘Iron Mike’ said: “I’ve always had pigeons my whole life, since I was eight, nine years old. That’s just what we do in Brooklyn, we fly pigeons. I don’t know why, but that’s just what we do.”

He continues: “That was our freedom, that was our ego, that was our everything. You had the best pigeons in the neighborhood, and people would come from other neighborhoods and say, ‘Who flies up there?’ That means ‘Whose birds [are] up there, flying up there?’ And you would tell them, and you could see the birds flying from way over [in] your neighborhood, and say, ‘That’s the guy that flies over there. And that was popular in our neighborhood.”

Bizarrely, it was his love for pigeons that led Tyson into his first fight. 

He recalls: “Another kid ripped the bird’s head off, hit me with the bird, threw the blood on me, smacked me around.

“So my friend said ‘Mike, fight him. Don’t be afraid, fight him.’ … I just fought, it’s not like I was sensational. I was just flailing away, and I guess I hit him more than he hit me, so I won I guess.”