Former professional boxer Mike Tyson has been forced to address rumors that he recently underwent a sex change operation, according to the Mirror .
An African website was reportedly fooled by an article on NewsBiscuit that claimed the fighter had been successfully transformed into a woman. In order to assure the world that his God-given organs are still intact, Tyson has issued a statement via SpyGhana .
Mike Tyson told the website:
“I am still a man and I have always been fully in touch with my masculinity and have no intention of becoming a woman. The claims are not only untrue but unbelievably stupid. I was at the Pacquiao-Marquez fight on Saturday and any reasonable person could tell I was looking like a man.”
The Daily Star reports that both SpyGhana and The Standard in Zimbabwe were fooled by the spoof which claimed surgeons had successfully completed the lengthy operation.
“Some people might think it strange that I’m now a woman,” the fighter was quoted as saying. “But even at the height of my career, when pound for pound I was regarded as the best fighter in the world, I never lost touch with my feminine side and knew that one day I would grow breasts and have a vagina.”
The spoof article goes on to say that Mike Tyson would be changing his name to Michelle following the 16 hour procedure. Taking the website at its word, SpyGhana and The Standard moved forward with the report they felt was legitimate.
Of course, these aren’t the only news outlets to have been recently fooled by a parody. In November, China’s Communist newspaper The People’s Daily reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had been named the sexiest man alive. In truth, the article was nothing more than a goof perpetrated by the folks at The Onion .
What do you think about rumors that Mike Tyson had a sex change?
