Mike Tyson divulged the bizarre reason he repeatedly chomped down on his boxing gloves during his highly-anticipated fight against Jake Paul.
On the heels of the bout – which Paul won handedly by the final judge’s score of 80-72, 79-73, 79-73 – announcer Ariel Helwani questioned Tyson on the strange display. “The broadcast team was debating what you were doing with your gloves, was it a mouth piece issue or were you just biting on your glove,” he asked.
“I have a habit of biting my gloves when I fight,” Tyson replied before adding: “I have a biting fixation.”
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As was the case for much of his decorated career, Tyson came out firing in the first round of Friday’s bout – seemingly in an attempt to quiet the concerns regarding his age. After the 58-year-old landed a left jab and overhand right to knock Paul back, the 70,000 in attendance at AT&T Stadium began raining down “Mike” cheers.
It didn’t take long for Father Time to catch up to Tyson, however. By the second round, he appeared to run out of steam after expending much of his energy during the first minute of the bout. As Paul landed 78 of 278 punches on his opponent in the ensuing rounds, “The Baddest Man on the Planet” looked to be in a world of pain as he grimaced while biting his gloves throughout the remainder of the fight.
Taking to social media, droves of confused viewers questioned why Tyson was consistently biting down on his gloves held in front of his face instead of throwing punches at Paul. “Glove biting, huh? Mike Tyson’s got his own ways of dealing with pressure, I guess! Still, can’t wait to see how the fight unfolds,” one X user wrote, with another adding: “What’s up with Mike Tyson and biting?! First, it was Evander Holyfield’s ear, and now his own glove! Guess that’s one way to psych himself up for the fight.”
Mike Tyson looked to be in a world of pain while facing off against Jake Paul in the ring
A third argued: “Mike Tyson spent more time biting his glove than throwing punches.”
Former boxer Tony Bellew promptly provided what he believed to be the answer, attributing the gesture to the immense amount of discomfort Tyson was feeling. “He’s biting his glove cos he’s in pain!!” he wrote on X.
Yet some came to the defense of Tyson, alleging that the legendary boxer was biting his gloves in order to control himself in the ring and not hurt Paul. “Mike Tyson biting his glove the whole fight so that he doesnt throw a punch and accidentally knock out Jake,” one person said. Someone else wrote: “Mike Tyson looked like he realized he would hurt Jake. He looked like he bit his glove to hold back punching.”
A third Tyson defender chimed in: “Mike Tyson was biting his glove to keep himself from actually going at Paul. He gets his big payday and Paul can use this moving forward.”
