The come back

Mike Tyson is, without a doubt, one of the best and well-known boxers in history. He also happens to be one my personal favourites. Lately, he has been posting training videos online and said he wants to fight again.

Mike Tyson just turned 54 years old. For a man of his age he is in great shape. In his usual freakish style, Tyson has shown great speed and power in his training videos. But as impressive as Tyson is, he has slowed down. And anyone that has had a few birthdays will know, the desire to train, and train hard is not the same as it was when you were 20. The first mention of the Tyson comeback were exhibition bouts and possible opponents were Shannon Briggs 48 years old, Evander Holyfield 57 years old and Lennox Lewis 54 years old. Any of these opponents would be great for an exhibition bout. 6 – 8 rounds going hard but not trying to kill each other, both walking away with a few dollars in their pocket. They are all skilled boxers around the same age and would put on a good exhibition.

At this stage, it all sounded very interesting. However, things soon started to take a turn for the worse. By worse, I mean the people that were mentioned as possible opponents. Sonny Bill Williams came up as an option. A man that is better known for playing Rugby League and Union than boxing. In Boxing, SBW won the NZ title and has had 7 fights; one of which was against a beneficiary. There is no doubt that SBW is a great athlete, but he is not a great boxer by any stretch. Putting him in the ring with Tyson is wrong on so many levels. Having one of the greatest boxers of all time in the ring with a good athlete is not going to get the interest of many people. 

As bad as that idea was, things got worse. There was talk of Mike Tyson v Tyson Fury. Yes, Tyson Fury the current undefeated heavyweight champ that took the title from Klitschko and gave Deontay Wilder his only loss in 44 fights. As it stands right now, Fury is the best heavyweight on the planet. I am not a big fan of his, but his skill is undeniable. If a 54-year-old Mike Tyson were to have a fight against the 34-year-old Tyson Fury, it would not be entertaining or fun, with very few positives to take away from the bout. All we would see is a 6ft 7 Fury jab and control the 5ft 10 Tyson. It would be like the Tua v Lewis title shot. Yes, Tyson had great head movement and was able to get inside taller fighters and unleash destruction on the inside, but that was 30 years ago. No one wants to see the current heavyweight champ fight a 50-year-old regardless who the 50-year-old is. 

These fights never go well for the older fighter. History is littered with examples, ranging from Marciano v Louis, Holmes v Ali and Tyson v Holmes. Although this is different to those fights as Tyson has been retired for a number of years and not at the twilight of his career. The outcome, however, would not be different as Fury would make Tyson look really bad. Their styles do not even match up well as Fury is a very elusive fighter and not a big puncher. Tyson, on the other hand, is a go forward fighter that uses power and speed to overwhelm opponents. Fury would box rings around the 54-year-old Tyson.

The most disappointing thing that is happening with the possible comeback of Mike Tyson is how the talk went from an exhibition fight to an actual fight and even fighting for the title. I still think the exhibition fights could be really interesting and people would pay to see them.  Just as an example, you could have Tyson, Holyfield, Briggs, and Lewis traveling around having exhibition bouts with one another with some other local talent on the card. Then people could pay to get autographs and photos after the boxing. They could make good money and people would love to see these 4 guys showcase their skills. At the age they are now, they should be able to keep their ego’s in check so the exhibitions don’t get out of hand (but hey that would be entertaining). They could keep it clean and professional and I know that I would find it a lot more interesting than seeing Tyson fight a current young fighter.

Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor