“I want him to bite my ear” – Yoshihiro Akiyama explains why he wants to fight Mike Tyson

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Yoshihiro Akiyama (right) says he wants to face boxing legend Mike Tyson in a special dream match. [Photos ONE Championship, Getty Images]

Yoshihiro Akiyama, affectionately known as 'Sexyama', idolized boxing icon Mike Tyson when he was growing up. Surprisingly, Tyson is also the person the Japanese mixed martial arts veteran would want to face in a hypothetical mixed-rules dream fight.

While Tyson is known as, arguably, the most dangerous boxer of the 1990s, there’s another reason why 'Sexyama' wants to fight 'Iron Mike'. He explained the reasoning in an interview with ONE Championship.

Yoshihiro Akiyama said:

“Because when I was a child, I was really looking up to Mike Tyson so I want to fight against him. I want him to bite my ear,” said the Japanese veteran.

Tyson was one of the most polarizing figures in boxing towards the end of the 20th century. One of the most infamous incidents that he was involved in was when he bit off a part of Evander Holyfield’s ear in their second match against each other in June 1997.

This led to Tyson losing his boxing license, which was later reinstated, and the creation of multiple pop culture references involving the sensory organ.

There was even a Foot Locker advertisement in 2013 wherein Tyson was “returning” Holyfield’s ear back in a comedy skit years after the two patched things up and became friends.

Veteran Judoka Akiyama, who won gold in the 2002 Asian Games and 2001 Asian Championships, said he doesn’t see any problem competing in a special dream match, especially if it’s something that would pit him against his fighting inspiration.

“Yeah, like, nowadays, people find enjoying these kinds of special martial dream matches. So if there is an opportunity, yeah, I really want to take that kind of fight,” he said.

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Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Shinya Aoki: A feud reaches boiling point

Yoshihiro Akiyama, who last fought in February 2020, will make his return to active competition at ONE Championship’s 10-year anniversary card, ONE X, on March 26. He’ll be facing another Japanese star in Shinya Aoki in the culmination of a feud that started nearly 14 years ago.

The two have nearly 37 years of professional fighting between them. Despite living in the same country and being in the same promotions, Yarennoka and Dream, in 2007 and 2008, Akiyama and Aoki never fought one another.

It was only in 2019 that the two would be under one company, ONE Championship. It then took three more years to set up a fight between the two Japanese stars, who’ve been feuding since 2008.

The two elite grapplers will finally lock horns at ONE X: Grand Finale, the third part of the stacked 10-year anniversary card.

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