Almost two decades after his last professional boxing fight, the legendary former heavyweight world champion is set to return to the ring this Friday evening; just a few months removed from celebrating his 58th birthday.
Whilst his upcoming clash with 27-year-old Jake ‘The Problem Child’ Paul has been widely condemned by almost the entire combat sports community; Tyson himself has now attempted to quell some of the concern around his health and age.
Mike Tyson sends a message to concerned fans ahead of Jake Paul fight
Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul is scheduled for Friday, November 15 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas – four months after the event was initially postponed due to Tyson suffering a medical emergency during a domestic flight, later confirmed to be a 2 ½ inch bleeding ulcer.
Considering both the various health scares suffered by Tyson in recent years as well as the age difference between him and Paul, it’s no surprise that fans are deeply concerned that Tyson could suffer some serious long-term consequences from the bout.
Yet in conversation with boxing reporter Manouk Akopyan earlier this week, Tyson was keen to mitigate some of those concerns as he explained that he’s done everything necessary to prepare himself for battle.
“Time changes [a person], I was a different person back then, and it’s time for me to come back.
“I was a different person [when I last fought professionally in 2005] … I was using narcotics and alcohol back then and I’m not that person anymore. I see a better picture of myself, I see light, I see the world from a different perspective now.”
To those fans who might have followed his career for the better part of four decades and are now anxious that this next one might be a tad too dangerous, Tyson simply stated: “Thank you very much for being concerned, but I am fighting… I’m going to be okay.
“I feel great; Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I boxed for eight rounds. Listen, I’m sparring young guys and they’re hitting me real hard; it wasn’t a picnic when I first started training, these young guys gave me a shellacking at first.”
After several months of intense preparation, it’s now Tyson doing the shellacking, or as he put it: “I’m doing my sh**.
“I was born to do this, I was built for this stuff, I was born to sellout a Stadium – this is what I’ve wanted to do my whole entire life.”
Tyson is a sizable underdog to ‘The Problem Child’, with his last win coming all the way back in 2003; a 49-second knockout of Clifford Etienne – two years after that bout, Tyson took on Irish Olympian Kevin McBride.
Mike Tyson’s last professional opponent tells Jake Paul to find a hypnotist
Bloody Elbow was lucky enough to sit down with Irish boxer Kevin McBride, the last man to beat Mike Tyson, to discuss both his infamous knockout victory and the upcoming bout against Jake Paul.
“A lot of people said that I have no chance to beat Mike Tyson, with his career and what he’s achieved, they didn’t think it was possible,” stated McBride, before adding that he “had a different plan in mind.
“I trained very hard for eight weeks and even worked with a hypnotist so that every time Tyson would hit me, I’d be smiling… So I was smiling a lot that night – people don’t realize that when they ask me ‘What was going through your head before the fight?’ I say ‘honestly, what the hell did I get myself in for?”
McBride admitted that the hypnotist “did no harm” as he just wanted to make sure he was in the best shape possible (both mentally and physically) to face the legendary knockout artist.
“You could have brought ten hypnotists in, and it wouldn’t have done much good with how hard Mike punches, I just wanted to go in there with the belief of winning.”
Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson goes down live on Netflix this Friday, November 15.