Iron’ Mike Tyson may be 58 years old, but he can still knock your head into “another dimension.
On Friday, November 15, the former unified heavyweight world champion will return to the ring for his first professional boxing bout in nearly 20 years against YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
News of their fight was met with immediate criticism, much of it focused on the fact that Tyson is 31 years older than Paul. Adding to the concerns was Tyson’s withdrawal from their originally scheduled July 20 date after he suffered a medical emergency during a cross-country flight in May.
Publicly, the incident was blamed on an ulcer flare-up. Still, the reports only heightened people’s anxiety over seeing Tyson return to the ring.
Recently longtime UFC color commentator Joe Rogan shared his conflicted opinion on Tyson’s clash with Paul during an episode of his popular JRE podcast alongside Academy Award-winning actor Russell Crowe.
“58 is 58, no matter what you’re taking and what they’re doing for you,” Rogan said. “You’re still 58. But 58-year-old Mike Tyson is not 50-year-old Mike Jones that lives down the street, it’s a different kind of human being. He can still knock your head into another dimension if he can catch you.
“The thing is, can he catch a 28-year-old guy who’s at the top of his career who is winning legitimate boxing matches? I mean, he’s beating former UFC world champions like Tyron Woodley. Jake had that very good fight with Tommy Fury who’s a legitimate boxer, that was a very good fight. And he just beat up Mike Perry who was a bare knuckle champion.
“He’s a real fighter, he can fight and if Mike Tyson and him are fighting and Mike can’t catch him? Then it’s hard to tell” (h/t MMA Mania).
Rogan’s definition of “legitimate boxing matches” aside, the part-time stand-up comic makes a solid point. Even at almost 60, Tyson has the power to put out anyone’s lights with one clean shot. The question is, will he have the cardio to catch Paul?
“When Mike is hitting pads he looks great, but it’s hard to tell when someone is hitting pads,” Rogan added. “If he can do that for eight rounds, great. But can he do that? I don’t know, he had to pull out of the first fight because he had an ulcer.”
Russell Crowe Comments on Mike Tyson’s return
Gladiator and Cinderella Man star Russell Crowe offered his take on Tyson’s comeback fight, questioning why the legendary pugilist would even choose to slide back into his ‘Iron’ persona after leaving it behind for so long.
“I was quite enjoying the second phase of Mike’s life,” Crowe said. “I was terrified of him as a boxer. He was terrifying. Even when I met him backstage at a stadium one time at a fight, I was like ‘I’m still terrified of you.’ Then that guy he started becoming where he became more exploratory and he was looking into what the meaning of life is and having a smoke every now and then? I was like, I’m enjoying this Mike, I’m liking the evolution.
“What bothers me with this whole thing is that he’s got to kind of slide back into that warrior and I’m just not sure that he needed to do it.”
Mike Tyson’s last professional boxing match was on June 11, 2005, against Kevin McBride. Shortly after, he closed out his iconic career going 50-6 with 44 of his wins coming by way of knockout.
