Mike Tyson Forced to Miss Father’s Funeral

PLAINFIELD, Ind. —  Boxer Mike Tyson hasn’t asked to attend the funeral of his father, who died this week, a prison spokesman said Friday. But he wouldn’t be eligible to go even if he wanted to.

A prison chaplain informed Tyson on Wednesday that his father, Jimmy Kirkpatrick, had died the day before in New York City, said Kevin Moore, a Department of Correction spokesman in Indianapolis.

Moore said the former heavyweight champion was “distraught and upset,” but had not asked for a furlough from the Indiana Youth Center, where he is serving a six-year sentence for rape.

State law allows temporary leave for inmates under certain circumstances for funerals in Indiana, but not out of state.

Kirkpatrick, who was 68, left Tyson’s mother, Lorna Tyson, and their three children in 1968 when Tyson was 2. He did not see his son again until 1982, at Mrs. Tyson’s funeral, the Daily News in New York reported Friday.

Tyson was convicted in February of raping Desiree Washington during the 1990 Miss Black America pageant in Indianapolis. He could be eligible for parole in three years.