Mike Tyson was Truly Scared When A Doctor Refused to Reassure him as he was Throwing Up Blood
The incident occurred towards the end of a flight from Miami to Los Angeles when he became violently ill. He recently relived the sobering experience as part of the second episode of Netflix’s countdown series for the upcoming fight with Paul.
“Coming here [Los Angeles] from Miami on the plane, I went to the bathroom and threw up blood. The next thing I know I’m on the floor, I was defecating tar. I came here [the hospital] and they found out I had a big ulcer – two-and-a-half inches – I was bleeding. All my friends were calling me like I was dying.”
Tyson then shared the scariest part of the experience during an exchange with his doctor: “I asked the doctor if I was gonna die and she didn’t say no. She just said we had options and that’s when I got nervous.”
The legendary heavyweight continued: “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”. Forced to postpone his clash with Paul until November, Tyson was initially furious at having to start his training camp for the fight over again.
“I lost 26 pounds, can you imagine that? I was so p***ed off because I had peaked. I was good, talking s***, ready.” However, in an October interview with the Daily Mail, Tyson took responsibility for the choices that had left him in that position, stating: “I was doing too much bad food and stuff, and I got sick.” Now consuming a clean diet, ‘Iron Mike’ insists he is ready to roll back the years later this month.
The bout had originally been expected to take place under exhibition rules. However, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation opted to sanction the bout as a full professional contest. There will be some adjustments made to account for the unique circumstances of the bout, though, with 14-oz gloves being used as opposed to the usual 10-oz and the contest consisting of eight two-minute rounds instead of the usual three-minute sessions.
Regardless of those particulars, the fight promises to be a spectacle like few before it as the world waits to see if Tyson can demonstrate that age is just a number or if ‘The Problem Child’ will prove the doubters wrong.
