Mike Tyson put a shark to sleep with his bare hands in his "Shark Week " special on Discovery.- As part of series of challenges, Tyson dived nearly 50 feet underwater without a cage in the Bahamas in order to place a shark into a state of "tonic immobility."
- The
boxing legend was so nervous about the encounter that he vomited on the boat before the dive. - "I was scared all the way through and was just trying to get through it alive," Tyson told The New York Post.
- "I'm a scary guy but not when it comes to adventurous stuff."
Mike Tyson knocked out 44 opponents during his professional boxing career.
Now, the 54-year-old can add a shark to that list after putting one to sleep with his bare hands as part of his "Shark Week" special on Discovery.
Dubbed "Tyson Vs. Jaws: Rumble On The Reef" – the boxing legend undertook a trio of increasingly difficult, and frightening, challenges with the sea's apex predator in the Bahamas in an effort to try and conquer his fears of returning to the ring.
Tyson is coming out of retirement to face 51-year-old Roy Jones Jr. in an eight round exhibition match in November.
While he succeeded in all the tasks given to him, the special wasn't without its downsides.
Tyson was so nervous before the final challenge of the show — while saw him swim uncaged with a group of 200-pound lemon sharks — that he vomited on the dive boat before getting in the water.
—Shark Week (@SharkWeek) August 10, 2020
In his first shark themed challenge, Tyson was tasked with cage diving with a large group of lemon sharks.
Tyson's second challenge saw him ditch the cage and swim among the sharks, pushing them away by their nose if they got too close.
For the final test, Tyson then dived nearly 50 feet underwater before placing a shark into a state of "tonic immobility" by grabbing its nose as it swam past him.
Tonic immobility, while not technically a knockout, is a hypnosis-like state of inactivity under which sharks can be placed by stimulating sensory pores located on their snout, according to Shark Trust.
—Shark Week (@SharkWeek) August 10, 2020
"I was scared all the way through and was just trying to get through it alive," Tyson told The New York Post. "I'm a scary guy but not when it comes to adventurous stuff.
"I was more nervous in the cage than I was outside the cage. It's so claustrophobic in there. But it got easier and the desire to do it more overcame me as well. After I went down the first couple of times I didn't have that fear."
He added: "I was looking forward to meeting a tiger shark but he never showed up."
Asked whether the tiger shark didn't show because it might have been scared of him, Tyson said: "I would like to believe that."
Read more:
Mike Tyson to make his return to boxing at 54 with an 8-round exhibition against Roy Jones Jr.