In case you didn’t know, it’s Shark Week over on the Discovery Channel.

Here, have five shark facts to get you in the mood.

The latest shark showdown to make headlines around the world features Mike Tyson, who was recently in the headlines regarding his comeback boxing bout against Roy Jones Jr.

For a show titled  ‘Tyson vs Jaws: Rumble on the Reef, the 54-year-old dubbed Iron Mike participated in a number of challenges in the Bahamas.

His final challenge entailed swimming uncaged with a group of lemon sharks, where he was told to place a shark into a state of “tonic immobility”.

According to Insider, tonic immobility “is a hypnosis-like state of inactivity under which sharks can be placed by stimulating sensory pores located on their snout”.

“I was scared all the way through and was just trying to get through it alive,” Tyson told The New York Post. “I’m a scary guy but not when it comes to adventurous stuff.

“I was more nervous in the cage than I was outside the cage. It’s so claustrophobic in there. But it got easier and the desire to do it more overcame me as well. After I went down the first couple of times I didn’t have that fear.”

We’ll start by backtracking a bit, with the trailer for Tyson’s showdown:

Hmm. Interesting.

Now, let’s see him in action, with Mike featuring from 25 seconds below, through to around three minutes:

Let’s relive the moment Mike blew chunks:

Not a great sign before the dive! #SharkWeek pic.twitter.com/G6IU4fUpvR

— Shark Week (@SharkWeek) August 10, 2020

And then woohoo, ‘Merica!

TONIC IMMOBILITY ACHIEVED. @MikeTyson is the champion! 🏅 #SharkWeek pic.twitter.com/kX6wRguugV

— Shark Week (@SharkWeek) August 10, 2020

Rumour has it Evander Holyfield was secretly hoping a shark would get at least one nibble in, preferably in the ear region.

So, if it came down to it, who would win in a battle to the death between Mike and a shark? Let’s just say I’m going with the shark on this one:

Feeling nauti. #SharkWeek pic.twitter.com/bGSV2NuJ6v

— Shark Week (@SharkWeek) August 13, 2020

[source:insider]