In a quick turnaround, former heavyweight king Mike Tyson has said that he WILL be facing fellow former champ, Evander Holyfield, in May. News broke a couple of days ago, with Holyfield’s team saying how “Iron Mike” had turned down the handsome sum of $25 million to face “The Real Deal” in what would be their third ring encounter. Now, Tyson has taken to social media to bring us all up to speed:
“I just want everybody to know, the fight is on with me and Holyfield. Holyfield’s a humble man, I know that. And he’s a man of God, but I’m God’s man. And, listen, I’m going to be successful on May 29th,” Tyson said on Instagram Live.
So what are fight fans to make of this? It’s fully expected that the Tyson-Holyfield bout will be an exhibition affair, just like the hugely successful Tyson Vs. Roy Jones bout back in November of last year. That said, Tyson said a short while ago how he wants to “go all out” in his next bout. Holyfield may be even older than Tyson at 58 to Tyson’s 54 (55 in June) yet he has never backed down from any man at any time. If Tyson wants to “go all out” on May 29, Holyfield will be right there willing to accommodate him. It could well be that this exhibition turns out to be a lot livelier, a lot more real than Tyson Vs Jones.
Tyson and Holyfield have a long history as we know, going all the way back to when they were both amateur boxers. Holyfield is the one man Tyson never could intimidate and when the two giants of the sport met for real in two fights, we all know what happened. Tyson and Holyfield made up not all that long after the infamous “Bite Fight” of 1997, and the two have got genuine respect for one another. Still, could we see one or both legends hit by a dose of flashback syndrome come May 29? It wouldn’t be too surprising if Tyson and Holyfield went at it for real, at least for a round or so. Tyson pulled his punches against Jones, but will he do so against Holyfield? Despite the two greats having become somewhat friendly, might there still be at least a little bit of bad blood between the two?
Tyson-Jones did massive P-P-V numbers as we know, around 1.6 million. Now, with Tyson fighting a legend who he has had a fierce rivalry with, who knows how big the fight/exhibition will be. Might Holyfield-Tyson III pull in over 2 million P-P-V buys? It’s not out of the question. For the record, Tyson is 50-6(44) and he had his last “real” fight back in June of 2005, when he was shockingly stopped by journeyman Kevin McBride. Holyfield is 44-10-2(29) and he last fought back in May of 2011, when he pounded out a stoppage win over common opponent Brian Nielsen. Like Tyson, Holyfield has got his body into fantastic shape for a man of his age. In fact, Holyfield has never allowed himself to get out of shape. However, also unlike Tyson, Holyfield has looked slow of hand in the released video footage of him hitting the bag. Tyson still has explosive speed.
Who knows what we can expect from Holyfield-Tyson III (the winner’s name goes first). Are YOU excited?
