The details of Mike Tyson’s health scare this year have been revealed in a new documentary about his fight with Jake Paul, after the heavyweight legend “threw up blood” on a plane.
Tyson will box YouTube star Paul on 15 November, but the fight was initially due to take place in July, only to be delayed when “Iron Mike” suffered an ulcer flare-up in May.
Ahead of the rescheduled bout, which will air live on Netflix from the AT&T Stadium in Texas, the streaming platform has released a documentary, Countdown: Paul vs Tyson.
And in one scene, filmed earlier this year, Tyson describes the incident that postponed the controversial contest.
“A week-and-a-half ago, I was training and I was doing great, but then all of a sudden, I started feeling tired,” said the 58-year-old. “I was explaining to my trainer: ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me.’
“Coming here from Miami on the plane, I went to the bathroom and I threw up blood. The next thing I know, I’m on the floor. I was defecating tar.
“So I came here and they found I had a big ulcer, two-and-a-half inches, and it was bleeding. All my friends were calling me like I was dying.
“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****r, 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 26lb, can you imagine that? I was so p****d off, because I had peaked [in training].”
Tyson has not fought professionally since 2005, though he competed in an exhibition bout as recently as 2020, when he drew with Roy Jones Jr. His fight with Paul will be an officially-sanctioned pro bout – scheduled for eight two-minute rounds, with knockouts allowed.
Paul, 27, has a 10-1 (7 KOs) record as a pro boxer, having beaten numerous ex-UFC fighters and some lesser-known boxers. Most recently, he knocked out bare-knuckle fighter and ex-UFC athlete Mike Perry in July, after Tyson was unable to compete.
