By: Sean Crose
He was without doubt the baddest man on the planet. What’s more, his presence was ubiquitous throughout the pop cultural landscape. For here was a guy who galvanized fight fans, had advertisers knocking down his door, and who – along with Michael Jordan – thoroughly dominated the sports world of the time. That was then. Now former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, is seen as a kind of cultural icon, a man whose many sins have been forgiven by a public longing for a bygone era. Here’s the thing, though – bygone era’s can’t be brought into the present, no matter how hard one tries.
Still, contemporary fans appear to be happy staring out at the green light at the end of Daisy’s pier, boats against the courant, borne back ceaselessly into the late 1980s. Don’t believe it? Check out all the media attention being directed at Tyson on the eve of his comeback fight against social media star turned half way decent boxer Jake Paul. Tyson, at 58 years old, is returning back to the professional prize ring nearly 20 years after his last fight – which saw him lose to the little remembered Kevin McBride. No matter – millions will be tuning in to see if the man still has some part of his former self left to dispense of Paul with.
In truth, the fight – which goes down this Friday night at Arlington’s ATT&T Stadium – is a no lose situation for Tyson. Should Tyson land cleanly against the far younger Paul, there’s every reason in the world to believe the fighter known as “The Problem Child” will find himself with the kind of problem that can bring with it a world of pain. If Tyson doesn’t pull off the upset, though, if Paul ends up out boxing the aging great, or – worse yet – stopping Tyson outright, is anyone going to think less of Tyson for it? Anyone at all? The man’s almost 60, after all.
The truth is that Tyson is in a no lose situation here. Almost.
The subject of aging can unfortunately not be ignored when it comes to this Friday’s highly anticipated bout. The older one gets, the more visibly vulnerable one becomes. It’s a sad fact of life. Bones become weaker, endurance lessens, and the risk of a serious head injury becomes considerably more pronounced. Dangerous stuff. Very dangerous. There are many potential benefits for Tyson taking on Paul this Friday, but there is a considerable downside to consider.
