Against the advice of almost everyone, 57-year-old Mike Tyson will step back into a professional boxing ring for the first time in nearly 19 years on July 20.

He is set to take on 27-year-old Jake Paul at the AT&T Stadium in Texas in a mega-money bout that will be broadcast exclusively on Netflix.

It is hard to understand why he’s willing to do it. He has nothing to prove. There is no history with Paul or his family. Maybe he needs the money, but health surely has to come first.

Tyson continues to experience health scares and issues, the most recent earlier this week when he endured a medical scare during a flight to Los Angeles, though is apparently ‘doing great’.

Here, Mail Sport takes a look at the veteran’s health situation over the years on the back of the incident and ahead of his bout against Paul in two month’s time.

After losing to Lennox Lewis in 2002, Tyson sensationally claimed he broke his back in the post-match interview, but took the bout anyway.

‘I broke my back, my back is broken. Spinal!’ he said at the time, raising eyebrows in a moment that lived long in the memory of boxing fans, before he addressed his words in 2020.

‘Well listen right, I have a bad back and since all of the work that I’ve put over the years, the spine in my back just starts shifting,’ he said. ‘I have to get the operation but the doctor said, “Hey eventually you’re gonna have to start bending over”.

‘I was trying to explain my situation. I just wasn’t eloquent enough to explain it in the way I wanted it to be explained.’

Though it seems Tyson never did break his back, he did suffer with back injuries. Following defeat to Lewis, he would still enter the ring a further three times, winning just once and losing the other two.

He thinks he will die soon

Speaking on his podcast, ‘Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson’, in 2020, Tyson told trauma and addiction therapist Sean McFarland that he felt his death was near.

‘We are all gonna die one day, of course,’ he said. ‘Then, when I look in the mirror, I see those little spots on my face, I say, “Wow. That means my expiration date is coming close, really soon”.

In what was a morbid conversation, Tyson went onto state ‘money doesn’t mean s*** to me’ and that it offers a false sense of security.

He will certainly be getting paid nicely for his bout with Paul. And four years on from the curious podcast episode, he appears to still be going strong ahead of his return to the ring.

‘S*** and sore’

Building up to his fight with Paul, Tyson has claimed he has been preparing to a soundtrack of funeral songs and made no effort to hide the toll camp is taking on his body.

‘My body is s*** right now. I am sore,’ he said. When it was suggested that the former heavyweight champion was playing possum, he replied: ‘I wish.’

Sparring footage has impressed fans, but it appears the real difficulties are coming only after hanging up his sparring gloves for the day.

‘I think the people who say that wish they were up here. Because no one else can do this,’ he added. ‘No one else can shut the sporting world down.’

Asked by Mail Sport if this return would be a one-off or the first of multiple comeback fights, Tyson said: ‘This feels like it’s going to be pretty fun so maybe we’ll do it again… let me take care of Jake first.’

Bed-bound 

Before his exhibition draw with Roy Jones Jnr in 2020, Tyson shared a clip on social media of himself in incredible shape, working out on the pads before turning to the camera and claiming ‘I’m back’.

It came at a cost, however. Though his aim was to get in the ring, he was ready for anything but in the build-up to the bout.

Speaking to Joe Rogan on his podcast, Tyson explained: ‘Getting in shape and getting conditioned are two different animals. They don’t even belong in the same division of working out. Getting in shape is getting able to fit in your clothes.

‘Being in condition is being able to come outside of your soul. You can’t do that automatically. The emotional state to prepare for that is mind-boggling.

‘Let me tell you something about the first training video, I did that video and I was in bed for a week. That was 30 seconds, and I was in bed for a week. That was not funny because it made me realise that this is big boy s***.’

A walking stick and a wheelchair

Two years on, concerns for the boxing great’s health were heightened when photos showed Tyson wheelchair-bound while also clutching a walking stick in an airport terminal.

A month on, Tyson revealed that he suffered with sciatica – a condition where the nerve which runs from your lower back to your feet, is irritated or compressed – as he sought to clarify the speculation surrounding his wellbeing.

‘I have sciatica every now and then, it flares up. When it flares up, I can’t even talk. Thank God it’s the only health problem I have. I’m splendid now,’ he said.

‘Everybody in my house is truly blessed and we’re all very grateful for whatever we have.’

The condition, which usually lasts from four to six weeks, impacts nerve endings in the body with Tyson appearing to be suffering with complications related to his back.

Medical emergency on a plane

On Sunday, Tyson suffered a medical emergency during a flight from Miami to Los Angeles.

The former heavyweight champion became nauseous and dizzy, forcing flight staff to ask passengers if there was a doctor on board to provide assistance.

Paramedics boarded the plane – which had already been delayed by two hours in Miami because of the heat – once it touched down in Los Angeles to give treatment.

‘Thankfully Mr. Tyson is doing great,’ his representatives told the New York Post on the back of the incident.

‘He became nauseous and dizzy due to an ulcer flare up 30 minutes before landing. He is appreciative to the medical staff that were there to help him.’