NEW YORK – Mike Tyson is 58 years old and coming off a health scare that forced the postponement of his return to the ring.
The boxer once considered the most dangerous man in the world could be putting himself in danger by putting the gloves on again. Yet he was quick to respond Sunday when asked why he was going through with his bout against Jake Paul.
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“Because I can. Who else can do it but me? Who else is he going to fight to make this happen?” Tyson said, motioning toward the crowd at a packed press conference where fans cheered the former heavyweight champion and booed Paul.
“We've just got to listen to the facts. We’ve got a YouTuber fighting the greatest fighter that ever lived.”
Tyson and Paul restarted the buildup to their match that is now scheduled for Nov. 15 at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas. They had been set to meet July 20 before Tyson became nauseous and dizzy on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles in May, with his representatives attributing the episode to an ulcer problem.
Tyson said Sunday he resumed training two or three weeks ago and feels fine.
“Hey listen, I’m just ready,” Tyson said.
The undisputed heavyweight champion 1987 to 1990, Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) retired in 2005 before coming back for an exhibition match against Roy Jones in 2020. Fans seem excited for his return, with a number of them turned away Sunday because too many showed up for their press conference on the final day of the Fanatics Fest event in New York.
Paul (10-1, 7 KOs) sparred as much with the fans who booed him as with the fighter across the stage.
“Hey New York, you’re just like Mike Tyson,” Paul said. “You were good 20 years ago.”
Tyson's most dominant days are actually longer ago than that, and Paul understands that he probably wouldn't get much credit for a victory against such a diminished opponent. Yet the former Disney Channel star who insists he will become a boxing champion said there is benefit to fighting Tyson even now.
“Big moments, big pressure, big stages, one of the greatest to ever do it, more experience than me, more fights than me, I’m going to learn a lot in this fight and through this training camp,” Paul said. “So this is helping me in my future fights and everything that I want to accomplish.”
He took a fight after Tyson had to pull out, stopping bare-knuckle fighting champion Mike Perry in the sixth round on July 20. Perry, like many of the fighters on Paul's resume, comes from the mixed martial arts world, rather than from a boxing background.
He preferred to fight Tyson then and is eager now for his second chance.
“I was ready before, you needed a little break,” he said to Tyson. “Your tummy hurt still?”
The fight that will stream on Netflix will be an official bout, though contested with eight 2-minute rounds and heavier gloves than usual. The truest boxing match on the card might be the one that precedes it, when super lightweight champion Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano have a rematch of Taylor's thrilling victory in 2022 in the first women's boxing match to headline at Madison Square Garden.
Then Paul will try to show what he hopes to become in boxing, or perhaps Tyson can demonstrate what he once was. He said his health problems won't prevent that.
“I had a small adversity. I got sick, but I’m better,” Tyson said. “I feel good.”
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AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing