Mike Tyson's Voice Has Always Been Part of the Boxer's Distinct, Unusual Appeal

He's not Muhammad Ali, but Mike Tyson is widely recognized as one of the great boxers in the history of the sport. Mike is now 58 years old, but he's set for one of the most high-profile fights of his life when he enters the ring to battle influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul.

The bout is hugely anticipated, even if it comes long after the prime of Mike's fighting career. Ahead of the fight, some who are learning who Mike is for the first time are wondering what the deal is with his voice. Here's what we know about why it's always been a part of conversations around him.

Given that he is a bulked-up fighter famous for his ability to knock his opponents to the ground, many are surprised when they hear Mike speak for the first time. Mike's voice is higher pitched than you might expect, and he also has a lisp that he's apparently had since childhood. That combination has led people to make fun of Mike, but given how hard he punches, you poke fun at his voice at your own peril.

During an interview with Playboy in 1998, Mike said that he was occasionally made fun of for his voice when he was a kid. "The objective of man is to be tough. You got to fight if someone insults you; that's just the law of the street. Some people would make fun of me. I'd fight 'em," he explained.

Mike elaborated by saying that he got into a lot of fights as a kid, and grew up in pretty rough circumstances.

"They get their knife, their gun, they want to fight. They want to hurt somebody. We have the animal instinct to survive. I got hit with bats, sticks, bottles across my face," he explained.

The boxer was also asked whether he suffered from depression as a child, and reflected on the challenges he had with learning when he was growing up.

"I don't remember. It wasn't depression back then. You know, you're poor, you don't have good doctors," he explained. "You have poor doctors who say, 'He's hyperactive' or 'He's a special ed student. We'll put him somewhere else so he won't disrupt the other students.'"

Mike's voice is partly something he's always had, and partly something that occurred after he broke his nose at the age of seven. That break caused a deviated septum that changed the pitch of his voice, but it seems like he may have had the lisp even before the broken nose.

Regardless, though, it's clear that Mike's voice and lisp are something that he's been dealing with his entire life. He might have become one of the great boxers of all time even without it, but it seems to have added an extra chip on his shoulder. We'll see if he's still got that chip when he takes on Jake Paul on Nov. 15.