After a successful outing against Roy Jones Jr., Mike Tyson addressed the media about the fight, his conditioning, charity, future, and Jake Paul.
At 54 years old, Mike Tyson’s return to the ring against Roy Jones Jr. was a massive success and made him think about the future.
Tyson retired in 2005, but his Nov. 28 exhibition bout against Jones brought a new fascination to his legacy. He took this fight seriously and flashed the familiar skills that made him the youngest heavyweight champion in history back in 1986.
At 220 pounds, Tyson looked fit and powerful against the 51-year-old Jones. Tyson’s desire to box again for fun showed as he chased Jones around the ring and delivered crushing body punches, the former multi-division legend. Tyson launched his Legends Only League in the process with the help of social media company Triller.
Triller’s production quality was top-notch, and Tyson vs. Jones had social media buzzing as fight terms trended on Twitter all night.
After the fight, a relaxed and satisfied Tyson addressed the media and discussed multiple topics, including his performance, YouTuber’s impact on boxing, marijuana, and a future bout with Evander Holyfield.
Here’s what Tyson had to say.
Tyson on the night and preparation for Jones
“I’m happy I’m not knocked out or anything. I’ll say I’ll be better the next one.
“My trainers and my sparring partners kicked my a** so bad. I’ll never call a fighter a bum again. I took my youth for granted. This actual event really made me find out what I was really was made out of because they really beat me to death.
“I could have done everything better. Everything I was doing, I could have done it better.”
Tyson on Roy Jones Jr. and his performance:
“He was very smart, and it was very difficult to hit him with a solid punch. If I did catch him with a good punch, he played possum really well. He didn’t let me know I hurt him or anything.
“I was just happy to be in there with him and go the eight rounds. That didn’t mean nothing to me. The scorecards didn’t mean nothing to me. The lack of fans didn’t make anything of it. I was just happy to go the distance because I was used to doing it with the three-minute rounds, so I said, why not just go the distance? Everybody knows I can knock somebody out if I did. I think going the distance is real fighting, having that endurance, and going the distance. Because you’re not going to knock everybody out. I’ve learned that in my early experience.”
Tyson on physical conditioning and charity:
“My body feels splendid. I want to beat it up some more.
“It feels great now. That’s different than getting beat up. I’m used to being beat up. I’m just used to that feeling.
“I’m capable of helping a lot of people less fortunate than myself. That’s what I’m capable of doing all over the world.
“In a perfect world, I’m a missionary. In a perfect world.”
What Tyson wants out of life and smoking marijuana:
“Well, what I’m doing in the ring I realize is not only a gift for myself. Before it was all about me, and the hot chick, and the nice car, and the planes, and the boats. It doesn’t do it for me anymore. So, I went another way.
“I help somebody else, I guess because I don’t get into that no more. I like my pigeons and my fancy clothes. Other than that, I don’t want anything out of life. Isn’t that a trip? My pigeons and my clothes. Of course, my children and my wife, but just my pigeons and my clothes. My pigeons and my clothes and my joint.
“I can’t stop smoking. I smoke during fights. I just have to smoke. I’m sorry. I’m a smoker.
“I smoke every day. I never stop smoking.”
Tyson on Jake Paul and the impact of YouTubers on boxing:
“We have so many great legends. There’s an array of them that are so interested in jumping on board and being involved with this program.”
“I would like to have one fight every two months.”
“He [Jake Paul] got 25 million [followers]. I didn’t know he existed until my son wanted to fight him one day. I said, who you gonna fight? This guy? Come on. He was a big star, and everybody knows who he is, and I’m so happy he joined on the bandwagon with me and Roy.
“They [social media stars] help boxing so much. Boxing owes these YouTube boxers some kind of respect. They should give them some belts because these guys make boxing alive. Boxing was pretty much a dying sport. UFC was kicking our butt. Now we’ve got these YouTube boxers boxing with 25 million views. Boxing is going back thanks to the YouTube boxers.”
Tyson on a future fight with Evander Holyfield:
“Maybe Evander needs to talk to me because every time my business associates talk to his business associates, it doesn’t turn out well. If you could see what we made tonight, if these guys really cared about the welfare of Evander, they would have had this fight with Evander. Whoever he is with is handling it totally wrong.”