Mike Tyson, 57, puts himself on three-month sex and cannabis ban for his Netflix boxing match against Jake Paul – in the hope it will leave him ‘irritable and nasty’ when fighting 27-year-old
Mike Tyson has imposed a strict three-month sex and cannabis ban on himself ahead of his blockbuster Netflix showdown against Jake Paul this summer.
Legendary heavyweight Tyson, 57, is continuing to gear up for his one-off return to the ring against Paul, the YouTuber-turned-boxer, at the AT&T Stadium in Texas.
The exhibition bout will be broadcast live on Netflix on July 20, a first for the online streaming giant, and will see the two fighters, who have a 30-year age gap between them, lock horns in front of a capacity crowd of 80,000 people.
Tyson has not fought since scrapping with fellow icon Roy Jones Jr across eight rounds in November 2020 and is looking for marginal gains to earn himself a potential advantage over Paul, who has fought professionally on 10 occasions.
Indeed, he has abstained from sex and cannabis since the fight was announced.
Mike Tyson is on a strict cannabis and sex ban ahead of his Netflix fight against Jake Paul
YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul will take on heavyweight icon Tyson in Texas on July 2020
Tyson has abstained on sex with wife Lakiha Spicer as part of his disciplined training regime
‘I’m living my life disciplined now, so I’m fight disciplined now. In probably six weeks, I haven’t gotten high or had sex,’ Tyson told Forbes.
‘It’s just discipline, it’s doing what you hate to do but doing it like I love it. I hate not being able to not to smoke but I’m doing it like I love it. I hate not being able to sleep with my wife but I’m doing it like I love it, because I want it I won’t do it.’
Tyson has made no secret of his love of cannabis – and was even high during his fight against Andrew Golota in 2000 – but has given up to heighten his aggression.
‘I don’t think I am going to smoke for this fight,’ he told FOX News.
‘I think I am going to be very irritable and nasty. Normally I do, but for this particular fight I think I’m going to go pretty raw and naked.’
Tyson has also banned himself from having sex with his wife Lakiha Spicer. The couple have been marred since 2009 and first crossed paths when Spicer was 18.
The 57-year-old has also temporarily given up on cannabis in order to heighten his aggression
Paul has been warned that Tyson is still able to punch with the strength of a mule’s kick
Spicer, now 44, is said to have met Tyson ahead of one of his fights and the boxer was initially warned by promoter Don King to ‘stay away from her’.
‘It was like a moth to a flame,’ Spicer told The New York Post in 2012.
Ahead of Tyson’s upcoming fight, Roy Jones Jr warned Paul that the aging pugilist is still able to punch with all the explosive strength of a mule’s kick.
Jones Jr, who fought Tyson in 2020 and shared a split draw decision, told Shane Mosley: ‘Mike Tyson is still the strongest puncher that I’ve ever been in the ring with.
‘The first time he hit me in the chest, it felt like a mule had kicked me in the chest.
‘And if he hits anybody with a shot like that, they are either going out or down, especially guys who are not used to being hit like that.’
