In his prime, Mike Tyson was not only the heavyweight champion in boxing, but he was pound-for-pound one of the most terrifying human beings to ever compete in combat sports.
The scary demeanor Tyson carried to the ring was only magnified by the ferocious way he knocked out his opponents. Tyson carried dynamite in both hands and he had a reputation for viciously picking apart fighters before leaving their broken, unconscious bodies on the canvas after he was done with them.
Of course, Tyson’s best days have long since passed, which is why there’s so much concern about the 57-year-old former champion returning to the ring for a boxing match against Jake Paul in July. In terms of accomplishments and boxing skills, Paul doesn’t come anywhere close to Tyson, but he’s still a fighter with huge power in his hands going up against an elder statesmen more than 30 years his senior.
That said, recently retired UFC welterweight Matt Brown explained on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer why Paul’s decision to talk trash to Tyson to sell their fight might end up as his biggest error yet.
“I think the worst thing Jake Paul could do is go talk shit to Mike Tyson like he’s doing,” Brown said. “It just doesn’t add up to me. Like Mike Tyson is an old stoner at this point. He’s a podcaster. He doesn’t give a f*ck about fighting. He’s in there to make money.
“But now you want to awaken that old beast? What in the f*cking hell are you thinking, bro? I don’t care if he’s 60 years old. I train with [Mark] Coleman at 60 all the time. I don’t want to get hit by Coleman. I don’t care how old that motherf*cker is.”
As a former UFC heavyweight champion, Mark Coleman hasn’t fought since 2010 and he’s also undergone four hip replacement surgeries in recent years not to mention a harrowing health scare after he rescued his parents when their house caught fire back in March.
Just a few weeks after fighting for his life in the hospital, Coleman returned to the gym where he’s continued training alongside Brown and the fighters at his Immortal Martial Arts center in Columbus, Ohio.
He may not be the same Coleman who won UFC gold and became the first PRIDE Grand Prix champion, but Brown knows from personal experience that there’s still plenty of fight left in “The Hammer.”
That’s why Brown believes Tyson probably has some fuel left in his tank as well and Paul’s behavior is likely only motivating him to ignite that into a raging fire.
“When I see a guy like Mark Coleman, who comes in my gym all the time, 60 years old, around the age of Mike Tyson, 58, 59, close to 60 — and the abuse he’s done to his body through the drugs, the alcohol, not training for years and then I see him train — it gives me hope for Mike Tyson,” Brown said.
“Mike Tyson, I don’t think has badly abused his body as Coleman has. Coleman has still f*cking got a lot in him. When you think about freak athletes like the two of them, Mike Tyson might still have it.”
In the past despite his disdain for the whole influencer boxing movement, Brown credited Paul for being a smart businessman, who has managed to bring some much needed attention from a younger generation back to the sweet science.
Brown still isn’t totally on board with Paul engaging in a fight with an aging legend like Tyson but their latest press conference may have convinced him otherwise.
“So cringe,” Brown said. “Jake Paul trying to f*cking be hard on Mike Tyson. Jesus Christ. You can’t do that. For one, it’s Mike Tyson. For two, you wouldn’t do that 20, 30 years ago when you were born — if you were an adult back then. You wouldn’t even have thought about it.
“I don’t get the thought process here. Jake Paul usually seems pretty calculated with everything he’s doing and smart about it. But if there’s one guy you don’t want to wake up the f*cking savage killer inside, it’s Mike f*cking Tyson!”
The biggest argument working against Tyson is that no matter how much he might want to lay waste to Paul in their fight on July 20, he’s just too old to actually make it happen.
Brown argues that for all the ways that the body starts to break down as fighters get older, his bigger concern for Tyson was not having his mind right to return to the ring. Paul talking trash and finding a way to get under Tyson’s skin might be just what the doctor ordered for the terrifying former heavyweight champion to return for one night only.
“People talk about speed goes first, and your power stays, all this kind of shit, honestly what goes first for a lot of people is your mind,” Brown said. “Just that blood thirsty hunger. That’s what goes first for most people or you get comfortable in there, things like that. That’s how you want to keep Mike Tyson. Be comfortable with your life. You’ve got a podcast, you’ve got money, chill. You grow weed. Go get stoned and hang out and we’ll play around out here.
“You don’t want to awaken that f*cking 25-year-old that sits still in him. I don’t get the idea of trying to do that. That is not the motherf*cking animal that you want to be poking.”