One thing that boxing fans who watched the fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul in Arlington, Texas may have noticed was that the former kept biting on his gloves during the fight.

Biting was the name of the game once again for Tyson on Friday night, but at least it wasn’t his opponent’s ear this time around, as the 58-year-old showed off a unique tick of nibbling on his glove while he was shielding himself from the Problem Child.

He lost to his younger counterpart by unanimous decision in the bout at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Mike Tyson Biting His Glove Throughout Jake Paul Fight

He revealed after the fight why he kept on doing it

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

Social media was abuzz with confusion as viewers noticed Tyson frequently biting down on his gloves instead of engaging in the fight against Paul. One perplexed fan commented, “Glove biting, huh? Mike Tyson’s got his own ways of dealing with pressure, I guess! Still, can’t wait to see how the fight unfolds,”

while another quipped, “What’s up with Mike Tyson and biting? ! First, it was Evander Holyfield’s ear, and now his own glove! Guess that’s one way to psych himself up for the fight.”

But what was the reason for this? The question was put to Tyson after the fight by Ariel Helwani, and Tyson responded by saying it was ‘a habit.’

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

The biting was picked up on commentary by Roy Jones Jr, who claimed it was ‘weird and not normally something associated with Tyson’s actions in the ring.’ However, Mauro Ranallo, on play-by-play duties, was adamant that he had seen ‘Iron Mike’ do it in the ring before.

When Tyson made the comment, there was a snicker of laughter in the background. It could be that Tyson was making a reference to his infamous clash with Evander Holyfield back in 1997, when Tyson got a case of the mid-fight munchies and decided to take a bite of Holyfield’s ear!

Helwani, upon hearing Tyson’s reaction, said: “I’ve heard about that. I don’t want to know more.”

As crazy as it sounds, though, Tyson’s joke answer might hold more water than we think. Tyson might just have a tendency to put soft, fleshy, ear-like substances in his mouth and bite down. As he said after the fight, sometimes fighters get caught up in the moment and aren’t thinking straight. They act without realising what they are doing, so perhaps Tyson’s tendency to bite his glove was merely a tick that he does regularly.

In the build-up to the fight, Paul chose to dredge up the memory of that infamous Holyfield incident, wearing a $100,000 ear cover to flash his affluence and taunt Tyson before the fight.

“I’m not getting my s*** bit off on Friday night,” Paul said, showing the piece to the camera. “So I got my diamond, spiked, ear covers right there.”