Mike Tyson will give up smoking cannabis ahead of his fight with Jake Paul this summer.
Tyson will come out of retirement this summer when he takes on the YouTube star in Texas. He has not fought since a bore draw with fellow legend Roy Jones Jr in 2020 while Tyson’s last professional fight saw him quit on his stool after five rounds against Kevin McBride in 2005.
Paul has won nine of his 10 professional fights with his sole defeat coming against Tommy Fury last year. The social media sensation has fought limited opposition in his career thus far but is the bookmakers’ favourite to have his hand raised on July 20.
And Tyson appears to be taking the fight seriously having become well-known for smoking cannabis. “I don’t know, maybe it has something to do with my tripolar tendencies or something,” he told FOX News when asked about his habit. “But I don’t think I am going to smoke for this fight. I think I am going to be very irritable and nasty.” Asked if he would take his own cannabis-infused sweets before a fight, he added: “Normally I do, but for this particular fight I think I’m going to go pretty raw and naked.”
No rules have been announced for the fight but Tyson has admitted it will be an exhibition bout and will not therefore go on either man’s official record. But the heavyweight legend insists the fight will be ‘real’ and claimed its critics are envious.
“I’m 58 and what? I’m getting billions of views from just talking to somebody about fighting,” he said. “Everybody, even most of the athletes, they’re jealous, that’s whack. I say in your prime you couldn’t draw a million people, man. What are you talking, you couldn’t sell out arena. Who at 58 could sell out an 80,000-seat arena? Why you think he [Paul] wants to fight me and not anybody else?”
When the fight was announced, Paul said: “I could not be more excited to make this amazing fight available to all Netflix subscribers alongside the hardest hitter of all time. My sights are set on becoming a world champion, and now I have a chance to prove myself against the greatest heavyweight champion ever, the baddest man on the planet and the most dangerous boxer of all time. This will be the fight of a lifetime.”