Last week, a story began circulating that said heavyweight legend Mike Tyson was in talks regarding a possible fight with MMA great Fedor Emelianenko, the boxing exhibition bout to take place later this year in Saudi Arabia. But though 57-year-old “Iron Mike” may box again before he’s finally through for good, it will not be against Emelianenko.
As per an official statement from Tyson’s representatives, who spoke with Sun Sport journalist Chisanga Malata:
“This is false. Mr. Tyson has not spoken to anyone in his (Emelianenko’s) camp. He is not interested in doing a fight with him now or in the future.”
That’s about as final as you can get. It really does make one wonder just where these rumors come from and why they are allowed to float around the internet the way they do. Anyway, now that we can cross this fight off the list (and some fans were expressing interest and a level of intrigue in the fake news fight), Tyson’s next move will be interesting.
Will Tyson come onboard and co-train Francis Ngannou for his massive clash with Anthony Joshua? Tyson has been invited to do so, but so far, he hasn’t accepted the offer, and the AJ-Ngannou clash is not too far away (March 8).
Tyson seems to always be in the news, even when it’s fake news or old news. Today, there is a piece on Tyson on Sport Bible with quotes from an old interview he did with Ring Magazine. In the 2014 interview, Tyson says his career-best performance was the icing he did of Michael Spinks, the 91-second annihilation taking place as we know in June of 1988. That version of Tyson looked unbeatable.
But in the same interview, Tyson spoke about a fight he wishes he had had against George Foreman. As fans know, this Dream Fight came pretty close to happening in the 1990s, with “Big George” on his astonishing comeback and with Tyson having been sensationally beaten by Buster Douglas. Foreman and Tyson even co-headlined a card in June of 1990, the idea for the two superstars to co-headline a second card later that year and then fight each other in an absolute blockbuster. It never happened, unfortunately.
And Tyson said in the Ring interview that he wishes it had.
“I would have liked to fight George Foreman. There have been many fans who wondered who the bigger puncher was,” Tyson said. “I would have liked to put an end to the discussion – one way or the other.”
“One way or the other.” You know what Tyson means? He means he doesn’t know himself who would have come out on top in this, arguably the most fascinating and passionately debated of all heavyweight Dream Fights. For every 100 fans you find who say Tyson would have scored the KO win, you can find another 100 fans who are positive Foreman would have KO’d Tyson.
What a crying shame this fight didn’t happen.