Mike Tyson hints he might box again. Why a bad idea could be viable.

On By Littum

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ARLINGTON, Texas – Mike Tyson, who fought to complete eight rounds of boxing Friday night, hinted that he might fight again.

The moment came during a post-fight interview where Netflix reporter Ariel Helwani asked the 58-year-old Tyson if his unanimous decision loss to Jake Paul at AT&T Stadium could be his last fight.

“I don’t think so,” replied the former world heavyweight champion.

Maybe Tyson just needed a good night’s sleep. Or time to reflect. Or to consult with trusted advisors.

But there are reasons to believe that his response was more than a stray thought.

James Spraggins, a personal trainer who worked with Tyson for about three years, hinted at a “Baddest Man Over 50” tournament. Championship Rounds, a news and media website, posted on Instagram in February about the upcoming event.

On February 6, From The Stands, a media group that covers MMA, posted on Instagram:

“Per source, the four martial arts legends who have been targeted for the ‘baddest man over 50’ tournament are Mark Hunt, Mike Tyson, David Tua and Lennox Lewis. Three of the four targeted contestants have verbally agreed to the idea.”

Tyson has not commented publicly about the tournament, but the concept is not new to him.

A similar idea was kicked around in 2020 when Tyson was involved in the formation of Mike Tyson’s Legends Only League, LLC.

The company started with Tyson’s exhibition match with Roy Jones Jr. in November 2020, when he was 54 and Jones was 51.

At the time, company representatives said the Tyson-Jones fight generated 1.6 million pay-per-views at $49.99 apiece. But all of that was long before Friday night, when Tyson looked more like the oldest man on the planet than the baddest man on the planet.

When Helwani asked Tyson what he had in mind, Tyson suggested that he might want to fight Paul’s older brother, Logan, who was in the ring looking shocked.

“I’ll kill you, Mike,” Logan said.

Tyson laughed.

“Here we go,” Tyson replied, looking too exhausted to go one more round or make any long-term decisions.