Earlier this month, Jake Paul appeared in social media videos sitting in a tattoo parlor, with the artist applying what seemed like an identical design to the one already synonymous with Mike Tyson. It was quickly revealed to be the same tribal pattern that Tyson has on the left side of his face, a tattoo the former boxer first got in 2003.
Tonight, Zhang looked slower than he’d been for his two fights against Joyce, and it seemed to take a lot out of him just to throw a few shots every round. Ideally, Zhang should come into the rematch in the 270s. In addition to losing weight, Zhang needs to work on his cardio because he can’t afford to be gassing out after three slow-paced rounds like he did tonight.
It was in the lead-up to the bout that ‘Iron’ Mike decided to get his now signature Māori warrior tattoo. Reportedly done by celebrated tattoo artist S. Victor Whitmill from Las Vegas, the story goes that Tyson originally wanted hearts on his face. However, Whitmill refused to go with the concept. Given that he has himself led the life of a warrior, the former heavyweight champion liked it when Whitmill introduced the Māori ‘tā moko’, a permanent ink decking the faces of Māori tribesmen from New Zealand.
Tyson has been sharing clips and photos from training, including several shirtless photos showing off his ripped physique. Many have wondered if Tyson would be healthy enough at 58 to fight Paul, who is just 27, but little by little those questions appear to be growing smaller. While appearing at a meet-and-greet event for Fiterman Sports Group in Chantilly, Virginia, Tyson took photos without a shirt.
Zhang, 40, dominated Joyce in April, damaging the 38-year-old’s eye to the point of closure and sealing a sixth-round stoppage. And when the pair returned to London on Saturday, it took Zhang just three rounds to repeat the trick at Wembley Arena.
On the undercard, Ilford boxer Anthony Yarde stopped Portugal’s Jorge Silva in the second round to make an impressive return in his first fight since defeat by unified light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev.
Captain America star Chris Evans has a few tattoos himself. And while the exact number is unknown (Evans keeps his tattoos well concealed), he did remove one from his collection. Evans earlier had a Chinese symbol tattooed on his right bicep that was supposed to say ‘family’. It turned out that his tattoo meant ‘surname’ instead! He no longer has this tattoo.
Post serving the jail sentence, Mike Tyson fought against inferior opponents likes Peter McNeeley and Buster Mathis Jr. He won both the bouts to lead up to a match against WBC defending champion Frank Bruno in 1996. Tyson knocked out Bruno in the third round to bag the title. His next match was against Bruce Seldon. He won the match in a record 109 seconds, claiming the WBA title as well.
Zhang later found out various errors in his preparations. During his one-week COVID-19 quarantine in Miami before the bout, the hotel provided him only two meals a day. Unfamiliar with Miami’s high humidity, Zhang’s water intake during his stay at hotel was insufficient and he suffered from severe dehydration. Compounded by a drop in fitness from staying in the hotel during quarantine, he lost 9 pounds. Zhang had been unconcerned with his weight loss since it was not an issue in the unlimited weight class. His doctor also concluded that his excessive consumption of Chinese tea during training was partially responsible for his iron-deficiency anemia. When Zhang was discharged from hospital, his first words to his managers were the Chinese idiom, fang hu gui shan, lit. “a tiger let go would come back at the village hard”, referring himself as the tiger. Since then, Zhang hired a nutritionist, quit smoking and has stayed away from tea during training and in the immediate run-up to boxing heavyweight division weight limit matches.
Round 3: Dubois comes out with a fire underneath him. He charges across and gets Hrgovic on his heels immediately. Dubois still steady with the jab and Hrgovic is now doing the same. Hrgovic looks a bit winded already. This has been a high-paced fight so far. But Dubois seems fresh and he’s taking the initiative now.
After moving to the United States in 2014, Zhang rarely visited China to see his parents, wife and son (born 2010 ) because he had to reapply for single-entry working visa every time. After a fight in China, he failed to get a visa and was stuck there for ten months between October 2018 and July 2019, missing a fight with Andriy Rudenko scheduled for November 2018 in Monaco. He was stuck for too long and asked his manager to terminate his housing lease and sell his car in New Jersey. He missed another fight scheduled in March 2020 in the United States after attending his father’s funeral. His flight scheduled for February 3, 2020, was two days after the United States implemented a COVID-19 travel ban on Chinese citizens. The 37-year-old Zhang had to wait another eight months for his next bout on November 7, 2020, with Devin Vargas on the undercard of the WBC lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Yuriorkis Gamboa.