The concerns about Mike Tyson’s health are linked to the fight against Jake Paul

LAS COLINAS, Texas – Jim Lampley has known Mike Tyson for nearly 40 years and can’t shake a thought that keeps popping into his mind.

The first Tyson fight that the iconic boxing station called was against Jesse Ferguson in 1986.

Tyson viciously knocked Ferguson out in the sixth round, and Tyson made his famous quote after the fight that he targeted the tip of Ferguson’s nose to drive it into his brain.

It was at that moment that Lampley knew that Tyson was on his way to becoming not just one of the best athletes in the world, but one of its biggest stars.

Fast forward to 2024, and Lampley’s feeling has shifted to worry.

“I watched a lot of Tyson’s professional boxing career,” Lampley told The Post. “Covered many of his most important matches. I’ve socialized with Mike, sat in interview rooms with Mike, I know Mike. … At the end of the day, I only have one very firm position about this thing going in, which is that I don’t want Mike to get hurt. I don’t want anything to happen to Mike that ruins his last 30 years on the planet.”

Concern over Tyson’s health has led to the recurring question – is this safe?

Tyson, who is 58 years old, is heading back into the ring to face 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on Friday night at AT&T Stadium in an officially sanctioned heavyweight bout that will count against both fighters’ records .

It will mark Tyson’s first professional fight since 2005.

Several states refused to sanction the fight, and Texas did so with only three conditions—that the fight would be eight rounds instead of 10, that rounds would last two minutes instead of three minutes, and that fighters would wear 14-ounce gloves instead for 10-ounce gloves to lessen the impact of blows.

To add to the questions hanging over the fight, Tyson suffered an inflamed wound during a flight in May, causing the fight to be postponed from July 20 to Friday.

Tyson has since revealed that he coughed up blood during the incident, but has pushed back any discourse about his safety, claiming he has been cleared for weeks.

“We recognize that he is a paragon of athletic prowess,” said Dr. Julia Iafrate, a sports medicine physician at NYU Langone Orthopaedics, told The Post. “That being said, he’s 58. As we get older, our speed typically slows down. Our agility typically slows down. Our power is probably one of those things that we can typically retain for a while. … He’s going to have to use and really rely on his smarts and his power more than speed and agility.”

Every boxer knows the risks involved in stepping into the ring, but that risk intensifies the older they are.

“The other thing is that our brains lose water weight, or water mass, as we age,” Iafrate said. “Our brains are technically getting smaller and our skulls are staying the same size. What can happen is that if someone gets hit in the head as they get older, they have a higher risk of brain damage and a higher risk of hematomas or subdural hemorrhages or brain hemorrhages because that brain is able to slosh around the skull more easily than it would have when they were younger. Our brain is not as malleable as it was when we were younger. There is potential danger there .”

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Paul, while he may not be a polished boxer, is certainly capable of throwing big punches. He weighed 227.2 pounds, slightly lighter than Tyson at 228.4 pounds.

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“Throwing power punches is not the hardest thing to learn in boxing. There are other parts of the craft that are more elusive,” Lampley said. “Guys with muscle and strength can learn to throw hard punches, so if Jake Paul lands some big shots on Mike, who is temporarily unprotected for some reason, it can hurt. And that’s what I fear, and that’s what I don’t want to see.”

Much of the concern, however, has come from outside – not from fighters themselves.

It is the profession they have chosen.

“It’s honestly very crazy,” Shawn Porter, a two-time welterweight champion who is now a boxing analyst, told The Post. “There are just certain things we shouldn’t do when we get to a certain age. Boxing is like life though. There are 58- to 60-year-olds who skydive. There are 58- to 60-year-olds who climb in mountains. There are 58 to 60 year olds who go diving. Whatever you love to do and that’s what you know, whatever as the case may be, go ahead and do it.”