Boxing legend Mike Tyson recently lost his first sanctioned fight in nearly two decades to former YouTuber Jake Paul, which must have been rough. However, it gets worse: Tyson has also revealed that he nearly died training for the match.
This is one of those situations when you lost but still won. I’m grateful for last night. No regrets to get in ring one last time.
I almost died in June. Had 8 blood transfusions. Lost half my blood and 25lbs in hospital and had to fight to get healthy to fight so I won.
To…
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) November 16, 2024
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In a post-fight social media post, Tyson exhibited a largely positive attitude about his loss, calling it a situation that he had “lost but still won.” However, more harrowingly, he revealed that earlier this summer, he had been hospitalized and almost died while training.
“I almost died in June. Had 8 blood transfusions,” Tyson posted. “Lost half my blood and 25lbs in hospital and had to fight to get healthy too fight so I won.”
Brett Carlsen/Getty Images for Netflix © 2024
This seems to be a reference to a pre-fight incident that almost derailed the entire event. Tyson experienced a medical scare during a flight from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in May. It was later determined to be a flare-up of a 2.5-inch ulcer, which led to the doctor’s recommendation that he refrain from training to allow for recovery.
In a Netflix docuseries on the fight, Tyson said, “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.”
However, the former undisputed heavyweight champion has not previously disclosed the frightening amount of blood that he lost during the incident nor the life-threatening number of transfusions he required.
While Tyson may have been satisfied with the outcome of the fight, the same could not be said for much of the viewing audience. While the fight had been hyped up by both boxers and Netflix for months, the actual bout is widely regarded as being low-energy and wildly unevenly matched.
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Paul secured a decisive unanimous decision victory over Tyson after eight rounds in a fight that fell short of the high drama many had been hoping for. The judges’ scorecards highlighted the depressingly dominated fight, with one judge scoring it 80-72 and the other two marking it 79-73.
At the same time, the livestream was both massively watched and riddled with technical glitches and production errors.
Netflix reports that the fight was viewed by a staggering 65 million concurrent streams at one point, which would make it one of the most viewed events ever. However, audiences also were subjected to accidental Tyson nudity at one point, instantly creating a wave of new memes.
At least Tyson is happy with how it all turned out.
For more on Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, head to Newsweek Sports.