Fresh from his first taste of in-ring action in 15 years, boxing legend Mike Tyson says that he will ‘absolutely’ be returning for another comeback fight as part of his ‘Legends Only’ fight league.
Former world heavyweight champion Tyson dusted off his gloves for November’s showdown with fellow ring legend Roy Jones Jr. in what was his first fight since retiring on his stool well over a decade prior against journeyman fighter Kevin McBride, and ‘Iron Mike’ says that his next fight will come in a fraction of that time.
Tyson and Jones Jr fought to an eight-round draw in the highly-publicized fight which drew significant attention from the mainstream press and generated a healthy 1.6 million pay-per-view buys to mark it as the most successful combat sports event of 2020.
And given the success of the first event, Tyson has been emboldened to lace up his gloves one more time.
“Once I announced that I was going to do my exhibition, everybody, all these other athletes all wanted to get involved in some way,” Tyson, 54, said on Instagram Live with Patrick Mouratoglou of his ‘Legends Only Fight League’.
“Our first show was a record breaker. Now everybody’s interested in being involved with our whole organization.”
A host of veteran fighters have indicated an interest in following Tyson and Jones Jr. back into action, with former world heavyweight champions Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis both suggesting that they could be tempted under the right circumstances.
Tyson’s comeback was spurred by a succession of training videos he posted to Instagram throughout last summer which seemed to show that the sport’s youngest-ever heavyweight world champion had retained much of the speed and power which had taken him to the top of the sport more than thirty years ago.
Furthermore, the ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’ says that his ring return reignited his appetite for the sport he once dominated.
“I felt really good, I felt confident,” Tyson said of his eight rounds in the ring with Jones Jr.
“I felt that I could do it again. It’ll be better this time.”
