19 years after retiring, Mike Tyson looks forward to fighting Paul
Former heavyweight champion pushed for their bout to be an official match. 'It's just something I want to do.'
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The scene was surreal but there he was: The soon-to-be 58-year-old Mike Tyson at the dais kicking off the promotion of an official bout 19 years and one month since he last mixed it up for real.
On the other side was 27-year-old Jake Paul, who was six months old when Tyson infamously bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear and was disqualified in their heavyweight championship rematch in 1997.
Tyson has had two exhibitions since his last official bout nearly two decades ago. It was a forgettable sixth-round knockout to journeyman Kevin McBride in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 2005. Afterward quitting against McBride, Tyson, a shell of the once “Baddest Man on the Planet” at that point, announced his retirement.
It was a long time coming since Tyson has freely admitted that he only continued to box over the last few years of his career because he needed the money even if he no longer had the fighting spirit.
The former undisputed heavyweight champion and the most iconic fighter in boxing history not named Muhammad Ali is in a much better financial position now than he was then. He doesn’t have to fight, but fight he will (for millions) because it is what he wants to do.
Tyson’s ring return will be against Paul, the novice pro cruiserweight moving up in weight and famed YouTube/social media personality, in an eight-rounder — albeit with slightly modified rules — on July 20 (Netflix) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where it would not be a surprise to see the American indoor boxing attendance record of 73,126 set in 2021 by Canelo Alvarez-Billy Joe Saunders, also at AT&T Stadium, fall.
Tyson and Paul, along with female stars Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, who will have a much-anticipated rematch for Taylor’s undisputed junior welterweight title in the co-feature, met the media and fans in the first of their two-city tour at the Apollo Theater in New York on Monday, and Tyson briefly explained his reason for fighting again, public opinion be damned.
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