Mike Tyson’s wife told the High Court that the former heavyweight pulled out of a £1.5 million advertising campaign because it would have made him look “ridiculous” while speaking to a giant pigeon on screen.
Tyson and his company, Tyrannic LLC, are being sued by Medier Ltd, the promoters of online gaming brand Rabona. The company alleges that they breached a sponsorship agreement made in January 2024.
The proposed campaign would have featured Tyson taking part in a livestream with four presenters, including one dressed as a giant pigeon. He was also expected to share childhood stories, teach the character to box and play casino games on Rabona’s website.
Medier claims Tyson and Tyrannic lost interest in the arrangement after he agreed to fight YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a reported £15 million exhibition bout.
Ali Reza Sinai, representing Medier, told the court that the couple had “simply lost interest in the service agreement once the more rewarding exhibition fight was firmly agreed”.
He argued that Tyson’s Netflix deal for the Paul fight was the “elephant in the room”, and said the planned Rabona appearance in Amsterdam in July 2024 was particularly important to the gaming company.
Tyson’s lawyers deny breaching the contract. Amanda Hadkiss said the proposed “Talking Pigeons” performance went “far beyond the scope” of what had been agreed.
She said the contract required Tyson to be filmed playing casino games, or other approved games included on Rabona’s website. The proposed show, she argued, involved scripted role-play, questions about his childhood, interaction with a pigeon mascot and the use of a mannequin bearing the face of his former rival Evander Holyfield.
Giving evidence, Lakiha Tyson said she had managed Tyrannic and overseen projects involving her husband for 17 years. She told the court: “We wanted to go viral, but in a way that makes him and his brand proud, not a way that makes him look ridiculous.”
She described the proposal as “crazy” and said Tyson had not agreed to appear in “a show with stuffed animals” or “this goofy show”. She added: “No talking pigeons…no talking trash to pigeons. We had to push back on the theme of pigeons and punching.”
Mrs Tyson said the couple objected to the way the pigeon mascot was to be used, rather than simply to the name of the programme. She told the court that Tyson had agreed to play games, but not to take part in what she called “ridiculous plots” involving large puppets.
Mr Sinai suggested that the couple had been told beforehand that the channel had a pigeon mascot which would always be present. “The name of the channel is ‘Talking Pigeons’. Doesn’t that suggest to you that the pigeon would speak?” he asked.
Mrs Tyson rejected the suggestion that the real reason for withdrawing was a desire to avoid questions about the upcoming Paul fight or protect its publicity campaign. “The two things were totally separate things,” she said. “They weren’t conflicting in any way. We had several other sponsors at the time too.”
The court heard that Tyson was due to attend a Rabona public relations event at a gambling conference in Amsterdam between July 16 and 19, 2024. His fight with Paul had initially been scheduled for July 20 before being postponed until November.
Tyson, 60, was subsequently beaten by Paul in a bout streamed globally on Netflix. He had agreed to promote Rabona’s gaming services at livestream events and at a major gambling conference, under an instalment-based contract worth $2 million, of which nearly $190,000 had been paid before the relationship ended.
Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in 1986 and finished his top-level boxing career with 50 wins and seven losses. His long-standing affection for racing pigeons has also been documented, including his account that the birds helped him cope with a troubled childhood in New York.
