Looks like former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson is winning the quarantine. He’s gotten back to the gym and at the age of 53 looks fit, lean, and fast as he was 30-plus years ago. The Mike Tyson comeback looks to be legit.
His videos of intense workouts have gotten him noticed.
“I’M BACK.” – The Baddest Man on the Planet 🥊
(via @MikeTyson) pic.twitter.com/kE2ug8waOe
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) May 11, 2020
Mike Tyson Comeback – For Who? For What?
David Feldman, president of the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship has offered Iron Mike, among options, $20 million to fight an opponent of his choice from the current roster. Get ready for DraftKings or FanDuel to start offering action on this ASAP.
Yes, that is an absurd amount of money for a one-off fight. Yes, Tyson would fit in with his current gray beard.
Feldman is like many who saw the old Mike Tyson from the 1980s. The young pugilist from Brooklyn stormed onto the scene, filled arenas across the world, became world heavyweight champion at 20, defended for the end of the decade before a catastrophic fall from grace by the Buster Douglas upset and a rape conviction.
Mike Tyson vs who?
Evander Holyfield just also recently announced a boxing comeback. Could it be?
- Barry Hall
- Paul Gallen
- Sonny Bill Williams
- Shannon Briggs
- Deontay Wilder
- Ricky Hatton
- Enzo Maccarinelli
Baddest Man on the Planet Still Got It?
Tyson was the right star for the brash, intense late 80s. His fights helped build boxing’s foundation on pay-per-view and cable. When he defeated Michael Spinks in Atlantic City in 1988 for the title, fans almost rioted because some (foolishly) dawdled to their expensive seats and missed Tyson stopping the fight in just 91 seconds.
The former champ lives in our memory as a near-perfect personification of unadulterated violence and force. The punch that dropped Alan in The Hangover was the end of an unsuspecting sequence like Tyson was making pancakes and just threw an instinctive cross.
So, in 2020, at 53, does “he still got it”? Honestly, has it ever left him? His career saw him so 50-6 with 2 no contests and 44 knockouts. Yeah, he’s been an actor, including his Mike Tyson Detective Agency series on Adult Swim. But can he get back that fire from his youth?
I’m a Bad Boy for Life. Watch #BadBoysforLife now on DVD Blueray @realmartymar #willsmith #stillthebaddestmanontheplanet pic.twitter.com/R9Zmz19GFm
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) May 1, 2020
There’s still the overlying question associated with all combat sports: what do you do when you get hit? Tyson rarely had to fight through adversity in his career and when he did, like against Douglas and Evander Holyfield, he didn’t do well.
Likely, Tyson won’t be facing the caliber of the fighter as he did in world championship fights. He might be giving up some weight, and obviously Father Time has slowed a bit those electrifying hands.
The company offering $20 mil is betting that you, the viewer, will pony up for a PPV event to go back in time, like when fans fill arenas to see old acts from that era. It will also offer some credibility to the brand and potentially be a leap-off point to compete with MMA.
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