Mike Tyson Offered $20 Million To Fight In Bare Knuckles Bout
Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson is shaping up and showing that, at 53, he still has a lightning punch that nobody wants to catch.
A video released earlier this month shows that he has not lost much of the speed and power he had more than three decades ago when he became the youngest-ever heavyweight champ. "He hasn't hit mitts for almost 10 years. So I didn't expect to see what I saw. I saw a guy with the same speed, same power as guys 21, 22 years old," trainer Rafael Cordeiro told ESPN.
According to Bleacher Report, boxing promotion group Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is impressed by Tyson’s physical condition, and has offered him $20 million to step out of retirement to fight.
"I think I know what we need to do to make this thing happen," BKFC President David Feldman told the sports news website. The organization made the offer earlier this month, but is now reportedly prepared to sweeten the deal with more money and charitable donations, Bleacher Report said. It is unclear, however, if Tyson will accept their offer.
The last time Tyson fought professionally was in 2005, when he was beaten by Irish fighter Kevin McBride, marking the end of a career that skyrocketed and placed him in the same conversation as other boxing legends including Muhammad Ali, Jack Johnson and Joe Louis. But following a series of personal issues — including bankruptcy, drug problems, the loss of a child and a six-year prison sentence for sexual assault — he has staged a comeback through movie and television appearances and, most recently, a successful podcast that has brought him favorably back into the public eye.
Tyson has hinted that there are plans for an upcoming fight, but didn’t say whether or not it would be pro or exhibition. But he told rapper ‘Lil Wayne on his Young Money Radio show that something is being worked out. "We got many guys. Listen, we got so many guys that want to do this,” he said. “We're in calls—we're doing business with guys you ain't even going to believe the names when the names come out."