Mike Tyson says his one-man show is as exhausting as boxing

For Mike Tyson, acting is more like boxing than you’d think.

With his boxing career long behind him, Mike Tyson makes a living now by performing his one-man show—Undisputed Truth—four nights a week in Las Vegas. 

So how does his new job compare to his old one? Tyson told Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim in an interview in this week’s issue of the magazine that it’s more similar than you might think. 

SI: What takes more out of you, fighting or a performance like that?

MT: It’s the same. It’s the psychological anguish more so than the physical.

SI: You get beat up?

MT: Pretty badly.

SI: How?

MT: I want to do great all the time, every day. And that’s not going to happen.

The show, written by Tyson’s wife, debuted in Vegas in 2012 and was performed on Broadway later that year under the direction of Spike Lee. He’s taken the act on tour around the world, and it was turned into a TV movie for HBO. 

Read the full interview with Tyson here.