Mike Tyson will enter the ring against a man 31 years his junior in Jake Paul on Friday in a bout fought under professional boxing rules – his first since hanging up his gloves 19 years ago.
Boxing legends returning to the ring for one last dance is nothing new but with the rise in crossover boxing spectacles involving MMA fighters, YouTubers and others from beyond the sport, it is a growing and increasingly lucrative trend.
Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have continued to fight in exhibition contests with Ricky Hatton and Marco Antonio Barrera also returning to fight each other two years ago.
Tyson himself donned his famous black trunks once again in 2020 to fight out a draw against fellow ring legend Roy Jones Jr. All those contests were fought under exhibition rules, all earning well as they enjoyed another night in the ring under the lights.
But it doesn’t always go to plan. In September 2021, perhaps the man whose career is most synonymous with Tyson’s in Evander Holyfield returned for an exhibition bout.
Holyfield, who in 1997 had part of his ear bitten off by ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’, was the same as age Tyson is now when he stepped into the ring to fight 44-year-old former UFC champion Vitor Belfort having retired a decade earlier.
‘The Real Deal’ is one of just three men to win world titles at cruiserweight and heavyweight and is an all-time great of the sport, part of that legendary heavyweight scene in the 80s and 90s he dominated with Tyson, Lennox Lewis and others.
But that night in September 2021, he was a ghost of his former self. Holyfield was soundly beaten without landing a single punch, knocked down twice in the opening round as Belfort staggered him with punishing blows. The referee mercilessly stepped in to wave off the contest shortly after.
Holyfield has not been tempted back to the ring since.
There are some differing circumstances. Holyfield took that fight on two weeks’ notice after original opponent Oscar De La Hoya was sidelined with Covid. He should not have been in the ring that night with the decision to move the fight from Los Angeles to Florida after the California State Athlete Commission refused to sanction it telling the whole story.
Tyson has been in a brutal training camp since the summer in preparation for this fight and has looked in phenomenal condition, still carrying some of that destructive power that once made him the most feared man on the planet.
But having had major health issues as recently as this year, there is justified concern.
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