Mike Tyson is indeed making a boxing comeback at the age of 54, but only in an eight-round exhibition bout against fellow former great Roy Jones Jr.
This according to highly-regarded boxing writer Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports, who says the showdown will take place on September 12 at Dignity Health Park in Carson, California.
Andy Foster, executive director of the California State Athletic Commission, told Yahoo Sports that the date has been reserved and explained: “This isn’t a situation where they’re going out there to try to take each other’s heads off. They’re just going to be in there moving around the ring and letting fans see these legends.”
Former undisputed heavyweight king Tyson has not fought since losing to Kevin McBride back in 2005 while Jones Jr – who is now 51 – also claimed the world heavyweight title in 2003 by moving up from light-heavy to dethrone John Ruiz.
In recent weeks there has been frenzied speculation that Tyson was about to return as he posted videos of himself on Instagram looking trim and sharp in training, but this also brought crazy reports that he was about to make a bona fide return to the professional ranks.
It then resulted in the even wilder scenario of sanctioning body heads such as WBC boss Maurico Sulaiman being asked whether they would rank Tyson and whether they could foresee him fighting for their world title belt at some stage in the future. Iole’s report, and Foster’s quotes in particular – appear to douse that speculation at least for now.
Tyson isn’t the only ring legend being linked with a shock comeback – ‘Golden Boy’ Oscar De La Hoya is openly talking about a return to the ring at the age 0f 47 – some 12 years after he was destroyed by Manny Pacquiao in his last fight back in 2008.
De La Hoya even refused to rule out a showdown with his current GBP stable star Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, widely regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport today.
