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Nearly 40 years after making his professional debut, and 19 years after being battered into retirement, a 58-year-old Mike Tyson will climb back into the ring today for a Netflix-backed bout that has drawn widespread condemnation across the boxing world. Tyson, who terrorised the heavyweight division during an imperious reign in the late 1980s, is lacing up the gloves once more to take on YouTuber Jake Paul, 27, in an officially sanctioned fight at AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, in Arlington, Texas. The fight, which will be comprised of eight two-minute rounds, was initially due to take place in July but was postponed in May after Tyson required medical treatment on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles after vomiting blood due to a bleeding ulcer.

That gory mid-air emergency has provided another piece of ammunition for the numerous critics who have condemned today’s contest as a macabre circus act that poses an unacceptable level of risk for Tyson, who last graced a professional ring in 2005, when he was beaten via a technical knockout after quitting on his stool against Irish journeyman Kevin McBride. ‘It shouldn’t be happening’ Twenty years ago, Mike Tyson retired from boxing, and was shot to pieces, right? I mean, completely shot,” the prominent British fight promoter Eddie Hearn said this week. “If anyone thinks that Mike Tyson should be in a ring at this age, you either have absolutely no emotional feelings toward the man, or you’re an idiot.



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