Mike Tyson REJECTS $20 million offer for Bare Knuckle fight

By Boxing News - 07/21/2020 - Comments

By Allan Fox: Former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) has turned down a big $20 million offer to fight in a bare-knuckle match. The 54-year-old Tyson was supposed to be returning to the ring for an exhibition bout in July, but that’s not happened. It’s unclear when, if ever, Tyson will make a comeback.

We don’t know what went on behind Tyson’s decision not to accept the $20M offer. Perhaps he had doubts whether the $20 million was for real? That’s a lot of money for a bare-knuckle fight, and where would that kind of revenue come from?

It’s hard for the average boxing fans to relate to someone turning down $20 million. Tyson can’t be broke like some people think he is if he’s rejecting $20 million for a bare-knuckle fight. With Tyson’s punching power and hand speed, he would have an excellent chance of winning a bare-knuckle battle in the first round.

Why did Tyson turn down the offer?

That’s not to say that Tyson wouldn’t have to take the punishment for the money he gets because he would likely get hit back.

Tyson is mostly just positing videos, which look like mini-commercials, of him working out on the pads. He’s also giving a lot of interviews in which he talks about a wide range of different topics.

Unfortunately, fighting again might not be in the cards for ‘Iron Mike,’ but at least he’s reviving his fame by continually posting his workout videos. However, Tyson will likely be getting diminishing returns in terms of fan interest if he’s not going to come out of retirement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B72F7VrRLa0

“We offered Tyson $20 million and some additional benefits, but he turned it down,” said David Feldman, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship president, to Ring TV.  “Who knows what’s going to happen with Mike Tyson?

“(His management team) said he was going to fight in July already, but then they said he was going to fight in August, so who knows what’s going to happen with him.”

For Tyson to turn down that kind of money for a simple bare-knuckle fight, it suggests that he believes he can make similar or significant revenue by fighting in a boxing exhibition match.

Mike should start small with exhibition matches 

Assuming Tyson doesn’t make $20 million or more with his exhibition fight, you have to wonder if he’ll be feeling regret later on down the line.

Some boxing fans will give Tyson credit for turning down the offer because it would be a radical move on his part to make money for that. People want to see Tyson return to the ring to face one of the top contenders and world champions in this era.

It would be brave on Tyson’s part if he were to first beat the likes of Evander Holyfield and Shannon Briggs in a pair of exhibition matches. From there, Tyson could then take on a top contender like Andy Ruiz Jr, Luis Ortiz, or Dillian Whyte. Tyson beats those fighters, he could then challenge the winner of the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua fight, and rake in a hefty fortune.

YouTube video

There’s a lot of great opportunities for Tyson to shock the world with a comeback, but it doesn’t appear that he’s willing to take that kind of risk. Like with anything, there would be the risk of failure on Tyson’s part and embarrassment. For that reason, he would need to be mentally strong to be able to take those high risks involved with that kind of cash.

Tyson isn’t going to get $100 million thrown in his lap for just posting workout videos of himself on social media. He needs to get out there and prove himself against the est of this era for him to make that kind of bread.