Boxing legends Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather will step back into the ring next year, with the two Hall of Famers taking part in an exhibition bout.
The two sides have agreed to the event — which can’t be legitimately called a “fight” or a “bout,” because it won’t be one — but there are no specifics yet as to date or location.
Tyson, 59, was last seen in the ring in November 2024, when he ended a 20-year retirement to lose an eight-round fight against influencer/boxer Jake Paul, a massive media event
that came nowhere near living up to the absurd hopes anyone might have had for a 58-year-old Tyson.
But the fight did draw an incredible amount of attention, because Tyson is a legitimate celebrity. And that is why there will be more of Mike Tyson in a boxing ring, whether the result counts or not, as it didn’t in his successful 2020 exhibition with Roy Jones Jr.
Mayweather, who will turn 49 next February, last had a sanctioned bout in 2017, when he beat UFC star Conor McGregor, but his last really serious boxing match came a decade ago. He’s been a regular on the exhibition circuit in recent years, most recently a pair of showcases in 2023-24 with John Gotti III.
Mayweather’s celebrity and notoriety in the exhibition game peaked back in 2021, when he got into the ring with Logan Paul, the brother of Jake.
Tyson, of course, is a career-long, full-fledged heavyweight, and weighed just under 230 lbs when he faced Jake Paul last year. Mayweather’s highest fighting weight for a legitimate contest was 151 lbs for his fight with Miguel Cotto in 2012.
But the weight won’t really matter, because the fight won’t be legitimate. All involved will hope that the event, if it does indeed happen, will churn a lot of money, but that’s the extent of things.
