A few weeks ago a fight between Tyson Fury and his namesake Mike Tyson would have sounded absurd, but not any more.
Fury was himself named after ‘Iron Mike’, who was terrorising the heavyweight division when he was born back in 1989. But now the latter is 53 years of age and has not fought professionally since 2005.
But in the last few days the former undisputed heavyweight king has posted videos of himself apparently in incredible shape while training, and talked of a potential comeback if he can find the right opponent.
Now legendary Top Rank promoter Bob Arum – who promotes the 31-year-old Fury along with Frank Warren – says he would entertain talk of a helping to put together a charity exhibition bout between the pair.
Arum on Tyson (Fury) vs (Mike) Tyson
He told Deadspin: “I would entertain the idea of Tyson Fury fighting an exhibition against Tyson if the money was going to a legitimate charity. I wouldn’t finance it. I would put sweat equity into it. I think it would be good for Tyson (Fury).’’
Currently Fury is WBC and Ring magazine heavyweight king and biding his time until the global COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
When it does he is expected to face former WBC heavyweight king Deontay Wilder in their third fight, before hopefully moving on to a blockbusting unification fight with fellow Brit Anthony Joshua.
But Fury and Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn have already spoken openly of the likelihood that the pair could meet twice in 2021.
Just the battle for the right to host the fight and the fight to screen it on TV would be potentially as fascinating as the action inside the ropes.
Already there has been talk of Saudi Arabia making a huge offer to stage Fury vs Joshua while it’s like America and UK venues like Wembley Stadium would be strongly in the mix.
