Mike Tyson just wanted to get in shape but then realized he had what it takes to get back into the ring.
Tyson is set to have an exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr. later this year but never thought he would fight again. Instead, he was only training to get back into shape after he felt like he was overweight.
“I was discussing with my wife about me being overweight,” Tyson said on JRE (h/t MMAMania). “And she said ‘Why don’t you just get on the treadmill for 15 minutes a day?’ But then it went from 15 minutes a day … to two hours a day.”
“I just started losing weight, and my brother in law said ‘Hey Mike, I know you’re not going to want it but someone asked if you would fight this guy for thirty or forty million bucks.’ I said ‘Get the fu — woah. Hold on. Who would they like me to fight?’”
Mike Tyson also revealed several names that were thrown out for his comeback fight including Bob Sapp, Wanderlei Silva, and Evander Holyfield. Yet, they ended up agreeing on Roy Jones Jr. and he was the one who wanted eight rounds.
“Beats the hell out of me,” he said. “I wanted to do the exhibition, I wanted to help the people, I said, ‘Why do I gotta do eight f**king rounds?’ But now I’m getting in condition, and we’re going to do this stuff.”
“Getting in shape and getting conditioned are two different animals. They don’t even belong in the same division of working out. Getting in shape is getting able to fit in your clothes. Being in condition is being able to come outside of your soul. You can’t do that automatically. The emotional state to prepare for that is mind boggling. Let me tell you something about [an early training video]. I did that video and I was in bed for a week. That was 30 seconds, and I was in bed for a week. That was not funny because it made me realize that this is big boy s**t.”
For Mike Tyson, he expects the fight to be violent and be entertaining for the fans.
“Of course it is [gonna get violent],” Tyson said. “Because both of us are who we are, and we’re gonna show our skills and nobody’s gonna look stupid. It’s just going to be interesting, I think. … I’m just prepared to do a lot of running and chasing. That was real difficult to get into condition for, chasing this little f**king guy around the ring.”
How do you think Mike Tyson will look in his comeback?