Mike Tyson has admitted he feared he would die after collapsing and coughing up blood on a flight just weeks before his fight with Jake Paul.

Heavyweight legend Tyson was due to take on Paul in July but was forced to postpone the bout until next week when he suffered a medical emergency on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles. Tyson, 58, was advised to rest before resuming his training but is now set to return to the ring against Paul in Texas next Friday.

And Tyson has revealed he fell to the ground in the bathroom of the airplane before coughing up blood. “A week and a half ago I was training and I was doing great but then all of a sudden I started feeling tired,” he said during a Netflix documentary. “I was explaining to my trainer, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me’.

“Coming here from Miami on the plane, I went to the bathroom and I threw up blood. The next thing I know I’m on the floor, I was defalcating tar. So I came here and they found I had a big ulcer, two-and-a-half inches, and it was bleeding. All my friends were calling me like I was dying.

“I asked the doctor if I was going to die and she didn’t say no. She said we have options though, and that’s when I got nervous. I can’t wait to get out of this motherf—–, man. God, I want to fight and start training. I don’t want to die in the hospital bedroom, I want to die in the ring. You wouldn’t believe what I endured from my ulcer. I lost 26 pounds, can you imagine that? I was so p—– off because I had peaked. I was good, talking s—, ready. ”

Tyson has not fought professionally since he retired on his stool after five rounds of his bout against Kevin McBride in 2000. He returned for an exhibition bout with fellow legend Roy Jones Jr four years ago with the rivals fighting to a bore draw. Paul, on the other hand, has fought 11 times since making his debut in 2020, winning 10 while his sole defeat came against Tommy Fury last year.

The YouTuber has predominantly faced former MMA fighters as he padded his record with wins over Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva and Nate Diaz. His last outing saw him stop bare-knuckle boxer and former UFC star Mike Perry who stepped in to face Paul on the original date of his meeting with Tyson.