Mike Tyson has moved to clarify why he bites his gloves after his bizarre move caught the eyes during his Netflix fight with Jake Paul on Friday night.
Tyson, 58, went the distance with 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul but was easily beaten in his first professional fight in almost 20 years.
And fans thought they spotted a problem for Iron Mike during the fight and thought he had an issue with his mouthpiece.
The boxing icon was seen repeatedly biting into his glove while moving towards Paul during each of the fight’s eight rounds.
But Tyson simply clarified: ‘I have a habit of biting my glove when I fight, yes’. Pushed on the subject by journalist Ariel Helwani he added: ‘I have a biting fixation’. Helwani quipped: ‘I’ve heard about that… I don’t want to know more.’
Tyson famously bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear during their fight which shook boxing 27 years ago.
Mike Tyson was seen biting his gloves during his fight with Jake Paul on Friday night
Tyson was disqualified for biting a chunk out of Holyfield’s ear in their 1997 rematch
After Holyfield won their initial match in 1996 via 11th-round TKO, the pair squared off again at MGM Grand the following year. The rematch would infamously be nicknamed The Bite Fight after Iron Mike bit Holyfield’s ear, ending the fight with a disqualification in the third round.
Paul chose to dredge up the memory of that infamous incident this week, wearing a $100,000 ear cover to flash his affluence and taunt Tyson before the fight.
‘I’m not getting my s*** bit off on Friday night,’ Paul said showing the piece to the camera. ‘So I got my diamond, spiked, ear covers right there.’
The fight with Paul proved a sad moment for Tyson, who lost all-but one round in a contest that showed every year of their 31-year age gap.
