KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 — World heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has revealed that fat-shaming inspired him to kick start a weight-loss regime.

Turning the negative comments into motivation, the boxing legend shed a whopping 38 kilogrammes in preparation for his comeback fight with Roy Jones Jr that has been postponed until November 28 due to Covid-19.

Tyson spoke of his weight loss on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast recently.

“If somebody’s with me, I find out he thought I was a fat motherf***er and didn’t tell me, I wouldn’t be his friend no more.

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“You say body shaming hurts some people, it helps me. 

“I never looked at it as fat-shaming,” he said.

The 54-year-old previously blamed cocaine and alcohol for his weight gain following his retirement from the ring.

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“At one time I was just 41kgs overweight I was doing cocaine, I was drinking and I said Allah if he can stop me from being this way, I’ll change my whole life,” the US athlete told TMZ Sports in July.

“And eventually, I got married, my life started to change, and I started working out.”

Tyson added he was grateful he wasn’t living the life he was living before.

The father of eight has been training for his fight against Jones since March and is set for his return to the boxing ring come November at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.