Mike Tyson's 2020 Comeback in BOXING!!!
Mike Tyson recently announced a comeback to the world of Boxing in 2020. He's been training again!!! Now, these would not be Professional fights, but rather 3-4 round Exhibitions.
Aging in general could be depressing to think about as far as your body physically breaking down and you not being able to perform the way you used to. And I could imagine it’d have to be much worse for a professional athlete, which is usually someone known for their physical gifts; gifts that have given them recognition; gifts that have purpose; gifts that have helped make them successful. I think this thought process was best portrayed and vocalized on film in Rocky 4.
So for those you don’t know, here’s a quick rundown on Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history at the age of 20 in 1986, and went on to dominate the division up until a loss to Buster Douglas in 1990, which was one of the most shocking upsets in modern sports history.
This was around the same time that problems outside the ring began to emerge, which would ultimately land Tyson in prison just a couple of years later in 1992. Roughly 3 years later, in 1995 Mike Tyson was released from prison and his comeback in boxing began.
It wouldn’t take long for Mike Tyson to regain the WBC title and then the WBA belt, which he would then lose to Evander Holyfield in a surprise upset, only to follow that up with a rematch, that became infamous the world over and referred to as “The Bite of ‘97”. It’s no surprise, Mike Tyson ended up getting disqualified and his boxing license rescinded. But this would not be the last we’d see of him in the ring; in 2002 he’d have a champion match against Lennox Lewis, which would end up being the highest grossing pay-per-view event history at the time. Unfortunately, things did not go Tyson’s way, as the fight was dominated by Lewis, who would go on to knock out Mike Tyson with a right hand in the 8th round.
Now Mike Tyson would have several less remarkable bouts until his final one 2005, when he stunned the boxing world by quitting before the 7th round. When questioned about this, Mike Tyson said he came into the fight out of shape, didn’t take it seriously and just lost his passion for the sport. It’s no surprise, he then announced his retirement.
So that brings us to today; 15 years later, with the passion back, and an emptiness that needs to be filled.
It doesn’t sound like he’s necessarily in it for the glory, but instead of noble cause.
So Mike Tyson’s 53 years old; what can we realistically expect?
To put that age in perspective, Bernard Hopkins fought competitively until the age of 51 and George Foreman was actually able to reclaim the heavyweight title at 45 and continued boxing until 48.
So there’s been some interesting news, ever since Mike Tyson announced his potential comeback to the ring; for example, Lennox Lewis recently spoke out and refuted Deontay Wilder’s 2018 claims that he could knockout Mike Tyson. Now I don’t know if this was more of a roundabout way of tooting his own horn, as Lennox Lewis did actually knock out Mike Tyson, so saying Deontay Wilder could not, Lennox Lewis is more or less pretty much saying he’s better than Deontay Wilder.
But there were even more interesting comments from Tyson’s former trainer, who said, “Boxing’s not the same now. I’d guarantee that if Mike Tyson trained for 6 weeks, he’d knock Wilder out in a minute”. Those are clearly fighting words.
So are these types of comments and stories just trying to build some hype for Tyson’s comeback? Possibly.
Though, I believe the curiosity factor alone will garner enough interest, from not only fans of the sport, but the general public as a whole. Mike Tyson is one of those sports figures who transcends boundaries; he’s a household name that people who don’t even follow the sport know. Add to that, people just love a comeback story; I believe part of it is because deep down, everyone wants their own comeback story, and if they can vicariously live through and witness another person pull it off, it gives them a sense of hope that perhaps they can as well.
Going back to Tyson’s former trainer’s comments about “Boxing not being the same now” as it was, he’s clearly right in many ways.
One of the more obvious is just the physical. Although the heavyweight boxing division has Not grown in popularity since Mike Tyson’s heyday, it’s clearly grown in physical size.
Although a lot of people think of raw punching power when it comes to Mike Tyson, partly due to all of the knockouts and early round finishes he was able to muster, it was really his speed that was an advantage and what ended up catching and finishing people.
In addition to that, it’s his footwork, it’s the angles he’s able to work in order to get in close and pummel his opponent’s body that makes him so dangerous.