MIKE TYSON’S Saturday night clash with Roy Jones Jr has the millennial YouTube generation salivating but it’s also inspired a few silver surfers.
Iron Mike ballooned up to 27st in retirement and the 54-year-old now enjoys a £30,000 cannabis habit that he insists helps keep the planet’s baddest man mellow.
SunSport photgrapher Dickie Pelham decided to do the Mike Tyson get-in-shape routineCredit: Richard Pelham
Mike Tyson is in credible shape ahead of his boxing comebackCredit: Instagram @cannon_briggs
But his sensational boxing comeback and incredible body transformation has rubbed off on some of his original fans too.
Award winning SunSport snapper Richard Pelham had his running hobby KO’d by a badly broken foot.
But has kept fighting fit by boxing off any signs of a dad-bod thanks to Tyson’s age-defying regime.
Age is just a number for super-fit Dickie PelhamCredit: Richard Pelham
Dickie was leaving no stone unturned as he works up a sweatCredit: Richard Pelham
He explained: “I have metal pins in my foot so running is too painful now and that was always a massive part of life.
“Throughout my career I have gone running with boxing legends like Nigel Benn and Frank Bruno, while photographing them in camp and I never wanted to stop.
“But boxing is a totally different form of fitness, I might only need to do a few rounds of shadow boxing or pads to feel just as exhausted as I would have done after an hour-long run.
“I loved Tyson, he was brilliant to photograph, terrifying but also really vulnerable at times.
“I watched how this comeback gathered pace on social media and how the weight he had put on melted away and was so impressed.
“I’ll be fascinated watching the fight, if Tyson just has 10 per cent of his old power and peekaboo style then we could see something special.”
Dickie is told to work the bag as the pressure buildsCredit: Richard Pelham
It’s then time for some ground work, the pain is etched all across Dickie’s faceCredit: Richard Pelham
An operation on his feet mean SunSport’s star snapper had to give up the running for boxing and weightsCredit: Richard Pelham
BT Sport sorted Pelham out with an exclusive workout plan and a Zoom chat with Ben Davison, the brilliant young English trainer who guided Tyson Fury back from obesity to his iconic Deontay Wilder draw.
And he fancies Tyson to enjoy a stellar swansong, if he has been as dedicated as his 6ft 9in former fighter.
The BT Sport pundit said: “Mike Tyson will be as good as his dedication has allowed him to train,” .
“The misconception when I was training Fury for his comeback was that I had to keep motivating him or stopping him from doing or eating things he wasn’t supposed to do.
“But he was completely self-motivated, Fury wanted to do everything for himself so he was very easy to train.
“Even when Fury was 28st he was doing boxing training and sparring and if Mike has done the same then, now he is at his ideal fighting weight, it will feel a lot easier, like it did for Fury.”
It’s an up and down day for DickieCredit: Richard Pelham
SunSport’s star 57-year-old is back on the pads as he follows Mike Tyson’s leadCredit: Richard Pelham
Davison idolised both American legends as a young boy breaking into the sport and fondly remembers a heated boxing debate with four-weight legend Jones Jr.
A meeting with Iron Mike remains high on his boxing bucket list, once the 54-year-old powerhouse returns to the ring where he struck fear around the world.
And Davison expects all the aggression and power to ooze out of the icons once the bell rings.
There’s no let up for Dickie as he heads back indoorsCredit: Richard Pelham
Mike Tyson has shed an almighty amount of weight in the past couple of yearsCredit: Getty Images
Davison said: “I am as unsure as anyone else on what to expect.
“I hope they go out, have fun, take turns in having success and play a bit of a game together but that’s never going to happen, they are going to have a real fight.
“These fellas got to where they got because of that spirit in the, where they are prepared to leave everything in the ring.
“To be willing to die in the ring, give it there all, leave it all in the ring, is built in them, it is part of their DNA.”
Tyson v Jones Jr. will be live on BT Sport Box Office from 1am and can be watched on BT TV, Virgin TV, Sky, online via the web or the BT Sport Box Office App. To order both fights visit btsport.com/boxing
Mike Tyson eats Roy Jones Jr’s EAR made of cake and jokes ‘it tastes better than Holyfied’s’
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
