By: Sean Crose
Several popular outlets are reporting that Mike Tyson, the legendary former heavyweight champion, will be facing the far younger Logan Paul this coming winter in an exhibition bout. Whether or not the rumors will prove to be true remains to be seen – but this is the age of novelty boxing, and a Tyson-Paul match, exhibition or not, might well prove to be a huge draw. Paul’s exhibition match with Floyd Mayweather earlier this ear reportedly proved to be a lucrative venture. And it’s doubtful the public would ignore a match between Paul and the most famous boxer since Muhammad Ali.
Tyson himself had a very successful outing into the world of novelty boxing when he battled Roy Jones just shy of a year ago in a pay per view exhibition fight. The event surprised a lot of people by drawing in a whole lot of eyeballs. There’s been talk of the man facing Evander Holyfield or Lennox Lewis next. Now, however, word is out that social media star turned celebrity boxer Paul will be next in line for Tyson, who last fought professionally in 2005. Paul was around 10 at time. In fact, Paul was born in 1995, the same year Tyson fought Peter McNeely.
Speaking of Paul, the man did better than many expected he would when he faced Mayweather earlier this year. He didn’t stand a chance of getting the better of his man, but Paul survived the exhibition on his feet – which was seen as a kind of victory in and of itself. Paul was far bigger than Mayweather, however. Although he was never a supersized heavyweight, Tyson is certainly much bigger than Mayweather, as well. Tyson is also 56 years old, which may add a level of intrigue should he and Paul actually do battle in the months ahead.
Novelty boxing has been all the rage for about the past year, though the trend has left a bad taste in people’s mouths since Evander Holyfield was stopped by former UFC great Vitor Belfort back in September. Holyfield, who took the fight on just day’s notice, was beyond over the hill and had no business being in the ring with another professional fighter, no matter how old that fighter happened to be (Belfort was no kid). Yet a match between Tyson and Paul would mostly likely spark people’s interest. As Tyson himself has said: “I am going to have a return fight in February and we are pretty skeptical about the opponent, but it will be a really stimulating opponent.”