Actor Jamie Foxx is doing 60 pull-ups, 60 dips and 100 push-ups almost daily as he prepares for his role as Mike Tyson in the former heavyweight champion’s upcoming biopic.
The actor shared details of his workout routine while confirming full production on the movie was in the works on Mark Birnbaum’s Instagram Live series, Catching Up.
“It’s a definitive yes. Look, doing biographies is a tough thing,” Foxx said. “Sometimes it takes 20 years to get them done. But we officially got the real ball rolling.”
Foxx said he was excited about the prospect of showing the different layers of the legendary boxer.
“We want to show everybody evolves,” Foxx said.
“I think when we lay the layer of Mike Tyson in this story, I think everybody from young and old will be able to understand this man’s journey.”
“I met Mike Tyson in the weirdest way, I was on stage doing stand-up years ago [aged 22]. I get to my Mike Tyson joke and nobody claps, nobody laughs. You know why? Because Mike Tyson was watching.
“So I started hanging out with Mike Tyson so I got to see Mike in two different ways, two different lives.
“I saw him at the height of his career and then when things got bad, things got bumpy, I also saw him as well, so what I’m excited about the movie is to show those moments of the different Mike.
“That’s the person we want to show.”
Foxx will play a younger and older Mike Tyson, something that will mean that his weight will fluctuate at various stages of the production process.
While recreating Tyson’s fury in the ring for the big screen might be pulled off, Foxx said he might need help in reproducing his formidable physical build.
“I ain’t got no legs, I ain’t got no calf muscles so we’re gonna have to get some prosthetics for that.”
Tyson who is now 53, was known as the “Baddest Man on the Planet” and became the youngest ever heavyweight world champion aged 20. He later cemented his position as one of the greatest ever by becoming undisputed champion. Daily Mast
