Mike Tyson on recent health scare: ’I lost half my blood, I almost died'

Mike Tyson suffered a medical incident on a cross-country flight on May 27, forcing the originally planned date of his July 20 fight against Jake Paul to be postponed. It was rescheduled to November 15 days after the ordeal due to what was described at the time as an ulcer flare-up.

New details have emerged from the scary episode.

“I was in the bathroom throwing up blood,” the 58-year-old Tyson told New York Magazine. “I asked the doctor, ‘Am I going to die?’ He said, ‘We have options.’ Options? I couldn’t believe it.

“I had, like, eight blood transfusions. The doctor said I lost half my blood. I almost died.

“I lost 25 pounds in 11 days. Couldn’t eat. Only liquids. Every time I went to the bathroom, it smelled like tar. Didn’t even smell like shit anymore. It was disgusting.

“It threw me off [when I continued training]. All my coordination, stamina, everything was hectic getting back. I was peaked already. I could have fought him that day. Now I got to start from scratch.

“I just don’t give up. I’m an asshole sometimes. I’m a dick. If I haven’t outlived my enemies, I’ve turned them into my friends.”

Tyson further detailed the incident of his two-and-a-half-inch ulcer during the Netflix documentary “Countdown: Paul vs. Tyson.”  

Tyson, once the youngest heavyweight champion of the world, will be fighting professionally for the first time since retiring in 2005 with a record of 50 wins and six losses.

Paul, 27, has fought professionally 11 times and has only one loss over his five-year career. 

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter whose work has appeared on ESPN, Fox Sports, USA Today, The Guardian, Newsweek, Men’s Health, NFL.com, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Ring Magazine and more. He has been writing for BoxingScene since 2018. Manouk is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.