Mike Tyson has sealed a dramatic return to the boxing arena for this week – just five months after losing to Jake Paul in a contest which saw him land 18 punches.
Iron Mike, 58, will hope his experience of winning 50 fights and five major world titles will come in clutch for his latest challenge.
He appeared to confirm his retirement from fighting in a recent interview with Men’s Health, saying, ‘the only person I’m fighting now is my accountant.’
But now the legend, once dubbed ‘the baddest man on the planet,’ is back again.
Tyson will be a guest analyst for Friday’s Times Square card.
He’ll be providing expert insights into the four-fight card, which includes bitter rivals Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney, albeit in different fights.
Mike Tyson has sealed his return to boxing – but he won’t be taking part in the ring this time
The 58-year-old will be an analyst for the Times Square four-fight card on Friday night
Garcia will box against ex-WBA super lightweight champion Rolly Romero, as Haney faces former unified WBC and WBO super lightweight champion Jose Ramirez.
Down the card, Teofimo Lopez will defend his WBO super lightweight belt against Arnold Barboza Jr, while Japanese prospect and The Ring ambassador Reito Tsutsumi will make his professional debut against Levale Whittington.
‘Can’t wait! I’ll be there in Times Square as guest analyst,’ Tyson wrote under a promotional video for the card Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.
Tyson went the distance with Paul in Texas in November, though his opponent, 31 years his junior, admitted to easing up on him as the fight went on.
‘After I’d seen him tired I didn’t want to put too much hurt on him, but I wanted the fans to get a good experience,’ he continued. ‘But there was a point where my aggression and violence went away when I wasn’t getting hit. I love Mike.’
Paul is said to have made $40million (£32m) from fighting Tyson, while Iron Mike is said to have been paid around $20m (£16m) for the bout in Arlington, Texas.
An average of 60 million households watch the main event live, with as many as 65 million watching at one time, according to MVP.
The win took Paul to a professional boxing record of 11-1 – with the one defeat coming against Tommy Fury in February last year – and it is unclear what will come next for the 27-year-old.
Many were surprised the fight was even sanctioned after it was initially delayed in June when Tyson suffered an ulcer flareup on a cross-country flight.
Tyson claimed he nearly died on that plane and ultimately had eight blood transfusions as he recovered from the incident.
While Tyson’s fighting days may be over, Paul’s next opponent will be Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, 39, at cruiserweight this summer, according to Ring Magazine’s Mike Coppinger.
Chavez is, of course, the son and namesake of the Mexican boxing icon, who won 107 of 115 fights between 1980 and 2005. But while he never matched the success of his Hall-of-Fame father, who shares a record with Omar Narvaez for 27 successful title defenses, the younger Chavez was a middleweight title holder in 2011 and 2012.
In fact, Chavez was 46-0-1 in June of 2012, before dropping six of his next 14 bouts between September of 2012 and July of 2024. Many of the losses came to some of the best in boxing, like Canelo Alvarez, Sergio Martinez and Daniel Jacobs. However, he also fell to a converted UFC fighter in Anderson Silva after missing weight for their 2021 bout.
Chavez did return to the ring on a Paul undercard in 2024, beating 40-year-old Uriah Hall by unanimous decision.
Paul beat Mike Perry by TKO that night in a tune-up for his eight-round bout with Tyson in November.
