Mike Tyson has revealed why he was biting his gloves repeatedly during his unanimous decision defeat to Jake Paul in Texas.
Tyson was down on all three judges’ scorecards after beginning to grow weary as the fight wore on.
Despite a strong start in the opening round, he perhaps unsurprisingly could not maintain his approach and Paul began to take control.
During the early rounds, Tyson would occasionally bite on his gloves, leaving the commentary team to question whether he had an issue with his mouthguard.
As the fight continued, the biting became much more prevalent, to the point where Tyson was doing it almost every time he raised the gloves.
Although lead commentator Mauro Ranallo explained to younger Netflix viewers that ‘Iron Mike’ had done this before in his matches, the sheer frequency of the biting left pundit Roy Jones Jr and fans surprised.
Speaking after the fight, Tyson told Ariel Helwani why he was repeatedly biting down on his glove.
He said: “That was a habit of mine, biting my glove when I fight. I have a biting fixation.”
On the knee brace that he was wearing amid his clear mobility issues, Tyson confirmed that he was carrying an injury into the fight but did not want to use that as an excuse for his unanimous decision defeat to Paul.
“Yeah [I had a knee injury],” he stated. “But I can’t use that for an excuse.
“I am happy. I knew he was a good fighter, I knew he was prepared.”
Tyson added: “I didn’t prove nothing to anybody, only to myself. I am just happy with what I can do.”
Paul, meanwhile, described Tyson as ‘the GOAT’, stating: “Mike Tyson, it’s such an honour.
“This is a legend. He’s the greatest to ever do it … this man is an icon, and it’s just an honour to be able to fight him.”
