Enthusiasm and anticipation, but also amazement and concern have been raised among Mike Tyson fans by the boxing legend's announcement of a return to the ring, at 57, to face YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in an exhibition match on July 20 , 30 years younger.
Iron Mike and Paul will face each other at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington (Texas), home of the Dallas Cowboys American football team and will be broadcast on Netflix, an event with enormous media appeal and which will fill the pockets of both contenders.
Concerned appeals are multiplying on social media from fans, especially Americans, who fear for the physical safety of a man who is certainly no longer the champion he was, just a reminder at least from a physical point of view of the unstoppable machine that dominated the world of peaks in the eighties and nineties.
Tyson, who last fought 20 years ago except for a performance in 2020 against former boxer Roy Jones Jr. Another legend, Oscar de la Hoya, also expressed some doubts among the boxing greats , according to whom, however, Tyson should not take excessive risks: «He has been in the ring with real monsters – said the former multiple world champion -. I'm sure he can still go six rounds, seven rounds, eight rounds.
I'm more concerned about the fact that this event won't add anything to Tyson's legend, on the contrary. Paul will be the one to gain popularity at Tyson's expense and I don't like this because I love Mike.”
Tyson, however, seems to have no doubts about his choice, so much so that he appeared in the media immediately after the knockout victory obtained last night in Riyadh by Anthony Joshua over the former UFC champion Francis Ngannou and without mentioning the fight he promoted his next engagement with a video on twitter. “Paul has grown a lot as a boxer over the years, so it will be a lot of fun to see what the will and ambition of a guy with the experience and attitude of a Goat (greatest of all time ed.) can do,” he said. remembered Iron Mike.