Mike Tyson, 58, back in the ring to face YouTuber Paul

Nearly 40 years after making his professional debut, and 19 years after being knocked out of retirement, a 58-year-old Mike Tyson will climb back into the ring on Friday for a Netflix-backed fight that has sparked widespread condemnation across the boxing world.

Tyson, who terrorized the heavyweight division during an imperial reign in the late 1980s, laces up the gloves again to take on YouTuber Jake Paul, 27, in an officially sanctioned bout at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, in Arlington. Texas.

The fight, which will consist of eight two-minute rounds, was originally scheduled to take place in July but was postponed in May after Tyson needed medical attention on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles after vomiting blood due to a bleeding wounds.

The bloody mid-air emergency has given yet another piece of ammunition to the many critics who have denounced Friday’s contest as a macabre circus act that poses an unacceptable level of risk for Tyson, who last graced a professional ring in 2005 when he was beaten via technical knockout after stopping on his stool against Irish journeyman Kevin McBride.

– ‘It shouldn’t happen’ –

“Twenty years ago, Mike Tyson retired from boxing and was shot to pieces, right? I mean, completely shot,” prominent British fight promoter Eddie Hearn said this week.

“If anyone thinks Mike Tyson should be in a ring at this age, you either have absolutely no emotional feelings for the man or you’re an idiot. It shouldn’t be happening.”

Hearn’s rival promoter Frank Warren echoed those sentiments.

“Mike Tyson is 58 years old and he shouldn’t be fighting,” Warren said after the fight was announced. “It’s as simple as that.

“Anyone with an ounce of brains knows that’s ridiculous. You can be on a freeway stuck in a traffic jam and you get to the end of it and all it’s got are people stopped for to watch a crash – and that’s what this is.”

Tyson, who US reports say is being paid around $20 million for Friday’s contest, has brushed aside concerns about his well-being and insisted boxing critics are motivated by jealousy.

“I’m beautiful, that’s all I can say,” he said earlier this year. “The people who said that wish they were up here. No one else can do this.”

At an open workout in Texas this week, Tyson declared that a grueling training camp had left him with the belief “that I’m tougher than I thought I was.”

“When I agreed to this fight and started training, I thought ‘What was I thinking?’ But I have finished the process. The battle is all the hard work done.

At a final news conference in Texas on Wednesday, a stony-faced Tyson pointedly refused to engage in the pre-fight hype.

“I’m just ready to fight,” he said. “I’m looking forward to fighting.”

– Fear of injury –

A global audience of several million watching on Netflix and tens of thousands inside AT&T Stadium will be watching on Friday to see if Tyson’s hard work pays off.

His opponent Paul – who was born six months before Tyson bit off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear in their infamous 1997 rematch – rose to prominence as a YouTuber before turning his attention to boxing.

Since his first fight against another YouTuber in 2018, Paul’s opponents have included a basketball player, mixed martial arts fighters and other professional boxers. In 11 fights, he has won 10 (seven by knockout) and lost one.

“I feel really good, sharp, powerful and explosive. It’s going to be a short night for Mike,” Paul said at Tuesday’s open practice, where he appeared wearing a bizarre rooster headgear.

It goes without saying that a prime Tyson from the 1980s would almost certainly have handled Paul within minutes.

Does he retain enough of the talent and destructive power that made him the youngest heavyweight champion in history in 1986, at the age of 20 years and four months? Bob Arum, the legendary 92-year-old boxing promoter who has seen it all, is unequivocal.

“The answer is no,” Arum told Secondsout.com last month. “A 58-year-old guy, no matter how good they were, no matter how athletic they were, is not going to be able to fight.

“You can’t throw strikes like you’re supposed to, you can’t do a lot of things. I hope Mike doesn’t get hurt, but I really don’t give him a chance.”

rcw/sev