By Sara Spary, CNN

Jamie Foxx confirmed he will play Mike Tyson in a much-anticipated biopic.
(CNN)Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx has confirmed that he will play Mike Tyson in an upcoming biopic about the life of the American former heavyweight boxer.

Casting for the highly anticipated film, with Foxx in the lead role, was first announced in 2014 but after a six-year hiatus there had been some doubts about whether it would be made.

Speaking to Hollywood producer Mark Birnbaum in an Instagram Live interview on Thursday, the 52-year-old actor, who is also a comedian, singer and producer, put an end to those rumors, revealing he had been bulking up with a grueling exercise regime in preparation for filming.

When asked whether the film would go ahead, he gave an emphatic “yes.”

“It’s a definitive yes,” he told Birnbaum. “Doing biographies is a tough thing. Sometimes it takes 20 years to get it done but we officially got the real ball rolling,” he said. “I can’t wait to show people what it is.”

Foxx revealed he first met Tyson after performing standup comedy at the age of 22, during which he told a joke about the boxer — who was sitting in the audience and approached him at the end of the show.

He said he’d he’d seen Tyson, who is now 53, through “different lives.”

Mike Tyson had a stellar career but a chequered past.