Why does Mike Tyson bite his gloves? Explains the reason for unique cross during battle vs. Jake Paul

On By Littum

Mike Tyson and biting go hand in hand. The heavyweight champion is known for his infamous incident against Evander Holyfield in 1997, when he bit off part of his opponent’s ear.

However, he was up to his old tricks again on Friday – this time on himself.

Biting was the name of the game for Tyson on Friday night as the 58-year-old displayed a unique cross by nipping at his glove while shielding himself from Paul. He lost to his younger counterpart by unanimous decision in the fight at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Tyson did it early and often during the contest, and it continued for the rest of the fight. That left the Netflix crew in the booth asking the same question as many at home – is there a reason Tyson is biting his glove?

Here is the suspected reason behind the bite.

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Why does Mike Tyson bite his gloves?

The crew got a response from Tyson himself after the fight. He explained that biting his gloves was just “a habit” – nothing more.

“I have a habit of biting my gloves, I have a biting fixation,” Tyson said after the fight.

One of the first things that stood out during the fight between Paul and Tyson was the heavyweight’s recurring decision to bite the glove. As he shielded his face, his mouth could be seen closing the thumb of his left hand.

On the Netflix broadcast, analyst Roy Jones Jr. adamant that the glove biting was odd and not something normally associated with Tyson’s tactics in the ring. But play-by-play announcer Mauro Ranallo was adamant he had seen the legendary boxer do the same in previous fights.

During the fight, analyst Rosie Perez offered the clever solution of asking Amir Tyson, who was a reporter on the Netflix broadcast. He was the one with the microphone giving an interview to his father when Tyson flashed the camera in the dressing room.