He Said, He Said
By Eddie Sanchez
On March 22nd, it was widely reported that Mike Tyson had declined a $25 million dollar offer to fight Evander Holyfield for a third time. Despite their advanced ages, Tyson being 54 and Holyfield being 58, there is still a considerable amount of excitement surrounding this potential bout.
Given the history between these two men, the sudden announcement from Holyfield’s camp was surprising. Mike Tyson made his return in November of last year against Roy Jones Jr. and boxing fans ate it up! In fact, there were 1.6 million PPV buys which was the most in boxing for 2020. The numbers made sense, so there was some confusion from fans when it seemed like the trilogy was all but lost.
However, Tuesday was a new day. Not only did Mike Tyson announce that the fight is taking place, he gave us the target date of May 29th. Now two days later, the momentum and media coverage has continued to explode. It looks like we may have a fight on our hands. Man oh man, we are in for a treat!
“I just want everybody to know the fight is on with me and Holyfield,” Tyson said during an IG Live session with Haute Living.
“Holyfield’s a humble man I know that and he’s a man of God but I’m God’s man. Listen, I’m going to be successful May 29.”
“We’re reaching out to Holyfield’s camp right now to confirm he’s in … so stay tuned on that.”
Stay tuned we will! The pair last fought in 1996 and 1997. These bouts ended in two Holyfield victories by way of TKO and DQ respectively. Classifying the 1997 match as simply a DQ would not do it justice. Mike Tyson bit-off a piece of Holyfield’s ear and has since lived to be one of the most memorable moments in sports history.
Assuming the negotiations end smoothly (BIG-time assumption) we will get to enjoy the next chapter between the two all-time great rivals.
The fact that two mid-to-late fifty year olds are going to make this big of a splash in the PPV market is quite remarkable.
Beyond Canelo Alvarez, who now fights on the streaming service DAZN, no other boxer has made a legitimate claim to being a North American PPV star following the glory days of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Quite frankly, I would be shocked if Tyson-Holyfield III doesn’t surpass the 2 million buy threshold. This is THAT big of an event. Kids who will never watch boxing a day in their life know who Mike Tyson is. His star power has lived on and will continue to live on.
Come May 29th (assuming Mike Tyson is offering the truth) he will have the opportunity to avenge his two losses.
