At least Floyd Mayweather is staying retired. Right now, perhaps due to the lockdown conditions the coronavirus pandemic has forced upon us, a number of prominent fighters, too many to keep up with in fact, are announcing comeback plans. It seems every day another big name comes out and states how he is back in training and has the urge to box again; the announcement usually followed by an “I feel better than ever” type of statement.
Mike Tyson has got fight fans in a frenzy right now. Having uploaded that short clip of himself blasting the pads last week, the 53 year old posted another video yesterday, his 24-second display of training footage followed by the bold message: “I’m Back.” Already, close to 3 million people have watched the video, with over 50,000 comments left by fans. You can expect this number to increase.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_T0mN6j7s0
Yesterday, Evander Holyfield said he’d take part in the third fight with Tyson “if something can be worked out.” Holyfield is even older than Tyson at 57. James Toney has let it be known he wants in on the action – “Lights Out” being ‘only’ 51 years of age. Even Lennox Lewis put up a message on social media, Lewis (almost certainly joking) wrote how he’s been back in training too. While Shannon Briggs wants to take part in some bare-knuckle fighting AND organize a tag-team bout with Tyson and himself going up against the Klitschko brothers!
So will these former greats actually get back in the ring? If it’s in exhibition form only then it would likely do no harm, but some people, such as George Foreman, have said Tyson can become a genuine contender again if he keeps up the hard training. Amazing.
And it’s not just the big guys of the sport who want to try and do it again. Marcos Maidana is still planning on returning soon (although to be fair to “El Chino,” his return was announced before the coronavirus struck; so his comeback has nothing to do with the effects of going stir crazy), and another Argentine warrior who thrilled us during his prime in Lucas Matthysse is also back in training. According to a news story from RingTV.com, the 37 year old former welterweight and super-lightweight belt-holder is aiming to fight again. And this will be no exhibition.
Matthysse, 39-5(36) last fought back in July of 2018 when he was beaten up and stopped by Manny Pacquiao.
Who knows where all this comeback craziness will end, but above all, let’s just hope nobody gets hurt. Coming back at age 37 is risky enough, let alone at age 53, or 57.