This is Rummy’s Corner.
Iron Mike Tyson is reportedly planning to have another boxing match next February.
This is not surprising.
In fact it was to be expected.
Tyson said as much following his exhibition bout last year against Roy Jones Jr - that
he wanted to do this again.
Well, if Tyson was dead set on returning to the ring immediately after that fight, then
surely the PPV numbers were even more encouraging.
Amazingly the bout sold 1.6 million PPV buys, which is quite extraordinary.
Especially when you consider this was two former greats in their 50s.
I confess, when I first read news of Tyson’s return I thought it was a joke.
I remember thinking, wait a minute!
This isn’t April 1, what the hell is going on here.
When I saw his potential opponent, I had mistakenly misread the name and thought Iron Mike was
slated to face the actor who played Crocodile Dundee.
That’s not a knife, this is a knife!
Australian for beer, mate!
Oof madone!
Ok!
So I initially misread that whole thing.
Iron Mike is not facing his former co star from Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.
It isn’t Paul Hogan, it’s Paul LOGAN - one of the Logan Brothers!
Or as it turns out when I looked him up on Wikipedia, it’s Paul, Logan.
One of the Paul brothers.
Then I remembered!
AHH!
This is the fella that had the exhibition bout against Floyd Mayweather earlier this
year.
I remember because of all the die-hard Pacquiao trolls snidely claiming that Floyd lost to
a YouTuber while Manny was still a champion - which had nothing to do with anything.
Floyd is retired and that bout was an exhibition bout - one which, I confess, I never saw until
just now prior to making this video.
Now it makes more sense to me.
Apparently these Paul Brothers are big time YouTube sensations who have earned some big
bank by transitioning their popularity into the inside of the squared circle.
Logan has already faced an all-time great legend in Mayweather, and now he has perhaps
positioned himself to share the ring with another living legend - Iron Mike Tyson.
Iron Mike is one of those unique boxers who simply exudes an aura of destructive brilliance
that has long captivated boxing audiences.
He won the WBC title at just 20 years old when he brutally stopped Trevor Berbick, to
become the youngest fighter in the long rich history of boxing to capture a major portion
of the heavyweight crown.
Tyson soon added the WBA and IBF belts to his collection, seizing claim to all 3 major
titles of that day.
And he later solidified his status as the Baddest Man on the Planet when he destroyed
the undefeated lineal heavyweight world champion Michael Spinks in the opening round.
That was vintage peak form Tyson in 1988.
Less than 2 years later, Tyson dropped the undisputed heavyweight crown against Tokyo
Buster Douglas.
It was the biggest upset in boxing history, and a performance for the ages from Tokyo
Douglas.
But despite suffering the dramatic upset defeat, Tyson’s aura of invincibility wasn’t completely
destroyed.
A lot of observers thought the efforts from Tokyo Douglas were somewhat of a fluke, and
then Tyson had a pair of solid wins against the universally ranked #2 boxer in 1991, Donovan
Razor Ruddock.
Tyson was the #1 ranked guy for the Ruddock bouts, and they were competing for a crack
at the undisputed heavyweight world champion, Evander ‘Real Deal’ Holyfield who had
beaten Douglas in the meantime.
When Tyson went to prison, well even in 1992 when Holyfield and Bowe gave us an epic war
for the ages - there were still a lot of people who thought Tyson was really the best heavyweight
boxer in the world.
And this viewpoint carried over into the mid-90s when Tyson returned.
But by that point, Tyson was clearly no longer the same destructive force from 1988 - but
he still had incredible power.
The only fight Tyson really looked truly awesome in his post-prison career was in his rematch
against Frank Bruno.
But other than that, and maybe the Golota bout - Tyson simply wasn’t as sharp and
didn’t appear as committed, but still the Iron Mike faithful believed.
Even after Tyson lost back-to-back fights against Holyfield, it still didn’t completely
destroy his aura.
His reputation persisted to the great extent that the mass intrigue for a showdown between
Tyson and Lewis - that lasted another 5 years, culminating with the dominant performance
from Lennox.
Fast forward to last year when Tyson released a short explosive training clip, and the boxing
world was ablaze!
The fact that his exhibition bout against Jones generated 1.6 million!
1.6 million PPV buys tells the ENTIRE story.
People still love watching Mike Tyson!
By comparison, just a few weeks ago we had an epic war, an instant classic, in the third
fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder - that fight reportedly did less than 600,000
PPV buys.
What this tells me is that the Legend of Mike Tyson lives on - forever, and ever, and ever.
So I see a lot of fans complaining about these old timers and these YouTubers having exhibition
fights, claiming it’s ruining the sport and whatnot, referring to these things as
circus sideshows.
Well, the bottom line is people are allowed to pay and tune into whatever fights they
want.
And clearly there is a market for nostalgia and YouTubers turned pugilist, where paying
fans are willing to shell out money to see these type of match-ups.
Whether the detractors of these events like it or not, a market exists for this type of
thing.
And it exists for this type of thing independent of Iron Mike - and beyond..
That Logan Paul fella is a YouTube SENSATION.
He’s a SENSATION ladies and gentleman.
A sensation!
Now you take that superstar celebrity YouTube sensation and you mix the legendary Iron Mike
Tyson into the equation?
Oof madone!
A boxing match between Iron Mike and Logan Paul might well conceivably become the richest
fight in boxing history, at least if they both approach the build-up in the right way.
Now I have no idea whether this thing will actually happen, but if it does, I have to
imagine that - even at his advanced age against a much younger athletic guy like this YouTube
Sensation - I mean personally, I’d like to believe that Mike can rip bong hits from
his finest herb and still knock this fella out at any time he chooses.
And if it is marketed as a real fight - one where a winner will be declared even if it
is just an exhibition - and if both guys fight to win - well, the intrigue is real.
Can the former Baddest Man on the Planet knockout a young athletic YouTube sensation?
But the reality is, it will probably be the type of exhibition where a prearranged agreement
prevents Tyson from inflicting too much damage on this Logan Paul fella.
After all, a lot of people thought Tyson was holding back and refraining from landing his
best shots upstairs against Roy.
But even if it were a friendly exhibition, if this YouTube Sensation tries his best to
prove something in there, the intrigue still exists on some level.
Because you never know if he might actually land something hard that makes Mike mad, and
makes him snap and break script.
Either way, if this actually does happen - what do you all think?
Iron Mike Tyson vs The YouTube Sensation Logan Paul.
Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
Thanks for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful night.
This is Rummy’s Corner.