Sport

Mike Tyson opens up about gruesome injury that caused Jake Paul fight postponement

Mike Tyson opens up about gruesome injury that caused Jake Paul fight postponement
Mike Tyson punches Jake Paul during face-off
Stats Perform Video / VideoElephant

Mike Tyson has given grim details about the extent of his injury that resulted in his highly-anticipated fight against Jake Paul to be postponed.

Originally the 58-year-old legendary boxer was supposed to clash with the 27-year-old YouTuber and boxer in a controversial fight scheduled for July but due to Tyson suffering from an ucler flare-up the fight was rescheduled to take place on November 15.

A three-part docuseries Paul vs Tyson on Netflix will be released in the lead up to the fight next week. Viewers get to see behind the scenes how both camps are preparing for the big event in AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas that will be broadcast live by the streaming giant.

In the first episode that dropped, Tyson didn't hold back in sharing how he had been throwing up blood and asked the doctor if he was going to die.

“I started feeling tired. I was explaining to my trainer, I don’t know what is wrong with me,” he explained. “Then coming here from Miami on the plane, I went to the bathroom and I threw up blood. The next thing I knew I was on the floor. I was defecating tar.

“I went to the hospital and they found I had an ulcer. It was two and a half inches, it was bleeding. All my friends were calling me like I was dying.”

Mike Tyson and Jake Paul attend Fanatics Fest Press Conference at Javits Center on August 18, 2024 in New York City. Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Tyson continued: "I asked the doctor if I was going to die and she didn't say no. She said we have options though, and that's when I got nervous.

"I can't wait to get out of this motherf***er, man. God, I want to fight and start training.

"I don't want to die in the hospital bedroom, I want to die in the ring. You wouldn't believe what I endured from my ulcer.

"I lost 26 pounds, can you imagine that? I was so p***ed off because I had peaked. I was good, talking s***, ready."

Meanwhile, Paul described how he felt "numb" when he was informed Tyson had pulled out from the initially agreed date for the match.

“When I received the news that he was out and not able to fight, I was just numb," he said.

“I was just like, ‘f***...’ I'm the type of person who likes a schedule and likes to know what I’m doing. This just threw a wrench in all of that. There was nothing I could do, it was out of my control."

He added: “Nobody can tell Mike Tyson what to do, and if he wants to fight me, of course I’m going to say yes. This is the opportunity of a lifetime to fight one of the two most famous boxers to ever live – Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.

“I look at Mike Tyson as a killer, so I never really expected something like this.”

The upcoming fight has drawn some concern given the 31 year age difference between Tyson and Paul. During his professional career from 1985-2005, Tyson ended with a record of 50-6 - including 44 knockouts.

While Paul's current record since he started in 2018, his record is 10-1, and his one loss was in 2023 against Tommy Fury, brother of Tyson Fury, by split decision.

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