Mike Tyson returns to boxing at 54 on Saturday looking and sounding different
Mike Tyson was in the passenger seat of a black Cadillac Escalade one recent morning, making the 45-mile drive from his home in Southern California to Tyson Ranch, a cannabis company he founded a few years ago.
“I could always use a buck like everybody else can,’’ Tyson told USA TODAY Sports during a phone interview. “This is so much bigger than that.’’
What this is: Tyson, the erstwhile "Baddest Man On The Planet," getting back into the boxing ring at the age of 54.
He is scheduled to fight Roy Jones Jr. in an eight-round exhibition match Saturday night at Staples Center in Los Angeles — more than 15 years after Tyson’s last, inglorious fight. On June 11, 2005, he quit before the start of the seventh round against journeyman Kevin McBride.
My last fight, I didn’t want nothing to do with that stuff,’’ Tyson said. “I have so much more desire than my last fight."
So what is fueling Tyson’s desire now?
MIKE MOMENTS: 10 victories that helped define Mike Tyson
5 QUESTIONS: For Saturday's Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. fight
“I look at it like I’ve got to test myself,’’ Tyson said. “Isn’t that weird? Why do I have to test myself and constantly push myself?"
Or is it that Tyson, who after the loss to McBride said, "I'm just fighting to pay my bills,'' still needs a buck after making an estimated $685 million in his career?
But there may be a deeper meaning than money, according to Tyson.
“Why am I who I am, and why do I react the way that I do?’’ he asked. “Why do I think? Why am I on the phone with you saying what I’m saying right now? What is causing me to say that? What’s causing me to breathe? What’s causing me to want to survive?’’
Tyson explained he is “doing research on myself’’ in his search for answers in a life full of whys.
Like, why did Tyson, who has struggled with addiction for more than two decades, stop using cocaine less than three years ago?
“I don’t use the word amazing too much, but it was really something,’’ he said. "No cocaine, no marijuana, nothing."
And why, after Tyson had a boxing ring built at Tyson Ranch, did he often work out three times a day, up to six days a week, during a sixth-month period leading up to his fight Saturday night?
In part, Tyson suggested, because the intense training has given him a high he can’t get from cocaine, marijuana or any other drug. But he is not doing this for free.
How the fight came together
Azim Spicer, Tyson’s brother-in-law and business partner, said he got a call this spring from Bob Sapp, a 6-5, 329-pound fighter best known as a kickboxer and MMA fighter.
Sapp said he wanted to fight Tyson in an exhibition match and that Tyson would be guaranteed a multimillion-dollar payday, according to Spicer.
“At first I just thought he was nuts and didn’t really take it too seriously,’’ Spicer said. “But these guys kept calling and calling me with some other guys overseas. Had a lot of money and just a bunch of money on the table, and so I reached out to Mike.
“I thought I had to tell him at this point, because if it was me and that money was available, honestly I would want to know regardless of what I had to do for it. So I told Mike, and Mike said, ‘I’m not fighting again.’
“So then Mike called me back five minutes later and was like, ‘How much were they offering?’ ”
About $20 million, Spicer said.
“Then he called me back maybe 10 minutes later and said, ‘And who do they want me to fight?' And I told him Bob Sapp. And he started laughing hysterically."
https://www.sog.unc.edu/sites/www.sog.unc.edu/files/webform/kij0ly-hack-ins-tagram-account-genuine-1907-zonte.pdf
https://www.sog.unc.edu/sites/www.sog.unc.edu/files/webform/kij0ly-how-to-hack-facebook-account-online-1907-zonte.pdf
https://www.sog.unc.edu/sites/www.sog.unc.edu/files/webform/kij0ly-onlyfans-free-account-hack-generator-1907-zonte.pdf
https://www.sog.unc.edu/sites/www.sog.unc.edu/files/webform/kij0ly-snapchat-hack-snapchat-account-hack-tool-free-1907-zonte.pdf
https://www.sog.unc.edu/sites/www.sog.unc.edu/files/webform/clash-of-clans-unlimited-gems-hack-ghantee-jolly.pdf
https://www.sog.unc.edu/sites/www.sog.unc.edu/files/webform/hack-instagram-account-password-ghantee-jolly.pdf
http://facebookhitlist.com/forum/topics/badjfaopdfuoiaeproiapdkfpdfiod
https://albelanoi6.tumblr.com/post/635768317008838656/abdofhoaidfiuaid
https://paiza.io/projects/R2PE4JhFJ3qX9KwZodJyWg
https://www.onlinegdb.com/SkMUbl35v