Mike Tyson was ready to duke it out with boxing’s biggest heavyweight behemoths in the spirit of charity, including with the man who was named after him
Mike Tyson was ready to duke it out with boxing’s biggest heavyweight behemoths in the spirit of charity, including with the man who was named after him Mike Tyson was ready to duke it out with boxing’s biggest heavyweight behemoths in the spirit of charity, including with the man who was named after him
Mike Tyson once insisted he was ready to scrap Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder in the name of charity.
The boxing legend is set to return to the squared circle next week in his anticipated bout against Jake Paul on Friday (November 15) at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
The fight will spell Tyson’s first professional boxing bout since his defeat to Kevin McBride in 2005 and first fight of any kind since his exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr in 2020, with the latter being organised for charity.
The 58-year-old’s previous moniker of ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ continues to ring true years after his two reigns as the heavyweight champion of the world.
Just a week before his draw against Jones Jr, Tyson urged the top heavyweights in the world to square up against him in order to raise money for charity.
Having vowed to donate his entire purse from the clash against his fellow boxing icon, the New York native laid down the gauntlet to Fury, Wilder and Joshua, when asked about the trio. “I think they’re brilliant,” Tyson remarked.
“They’re brilliant fighters. They could do so much for society. They could have exhibitions and take the money from the exhibitions, because they’re such big crowd pleasers and they could help so many people.
(
Image:
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
“There’s so many people out there that we can do so much for, and it wouldn’t even be a 10th of their charitable heart to do something like that. In fact, fight exhibitions with me, and most of our charity would go to people who desperately need it.”
Earlier in 2020, Tyson insisted that he’d love to share the ring with the baddest that the boxing heavyweight division has to offer. “If doing that means we can have bigger charity exponents, well be it, I’m down to do that too,” he said.
“This is all being done for charity, and if they’re down to do that, I’m with it too. It’s entertainment, it’s just for charity – it’s for a good cause, but we’re giving our best.”
(
Image:
Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
A potential battle with Joshua was put to Tyson during an interview as he displayed his excitement in getting the opportunity to share the ring with the former two-time unified heavyweight champion.
He said: “I would love to do that. That would be mind-blowing. I want you to label them as exhibitions because there are no hard feelings. It has a charity exponent and I look at that as bigger than me. ‘Buying a new car, a new girlfriend, a new mansion, a new plane’… that doesn’t do it for me anymore. It just doesn’t work.”
Fury, named after Tyson, previously explained how there were discussions held about their potential exhibition. But differing opinions on the finances scuppered any chance of it going ahead.
Mirror – Sport
