Mike Tyson‘s return to the ring to face Jake Paul is now only four weeks away.

He will take on the YouTuber-turned-boxer next month in what will be ‘Iron Mike’s first professional fight in nearly twenty years.

The fight represents a big u-turn for the former heavyweight champion. It was only a couple of years ago when he appeared on the Full Send Podcast saying he would ‘never’ step in the ring with Paul as he only wants to face ‘real fighters’.

“My family loves Jake Paul, I would never, I would never fight him. Everyone in my family love this little white motherf***er.

Let him has his reign, let him have his time. I don’t want to fight him man. I fight real fighters. I fight fighters that hurt big strong scary men, they’re the ones that I fight.”

However, in an interview with USA Today Tyson has now revealed why he changed his mind, declaring the motive isn’t financial but rather a desire to test himself once more.

“I could be waiting on a check every day from cannabis, That’s bulls**t for me. I’m a man. I want to go out there and I want to expose myself to risk. Sometimes I want to see who I really am. I want to see what I’m really made out of.

I want to perform in front of the world. To me, that’s all I ever knew how to do since I was 14.”