It’s 2020, So of Course Mike Tyson Is Boxing Again

“It was Mike’s idea to kick off the league with his own fight,” said Watts, adding that she is planning for four calendar events in 2021.

During the interview, Tyson imagined other boxers participating in bouts for charity, like Fury, Deontay Wilder, Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya. “That would be powerful,” he said. “My ego would mean nothing. That would do off my ego, if we all got together.”

This is another act in Tyson’s winding life, with the seniority of someone who perhaps did not envision making it this far. “I know it seems different, me being who I was before and who I’m becoming and trying to become in life, but that’s just what it is,” Tyson said. “I didn’t choose this route. I wasn’t navigating. I’m very grateful to be alive. I learned a lot of gratitude.”

Tyson’s first debut introduced him as “the hunter, the pressure fighter who will try to push his opponent’s nose bone into his brain, as he once famously said,” Farhood said.

A rape conviction and prison stint marked a steep downfall. Three decades later, an environment of tolerant silence has changed with regard to abuse in the world of sports and entertainment.

“During the time when this happened, it was fairly rampant but just underreported” among many famous men in sports, said Miki Turner, a former sports columnist who is an assistant professor at the University of Southern California teaching journalism. She added: “I’m glad that this movement has really emerged and really sort of shaken all the nuts from the trees.”

Tyson said that until his downfall he was too self-centered. “I didn’t want to be humble. I got humbled. Life beat me into submission,” he said. “I lost my babies, I lost people I loved and it just — I had to get it together and found my head. And it could be me. I could be gone tomorrow or 10 minutes from now. You know what I mean? I’m not no religious freak, man, don’t get me wrong, OK?”