Mike Tyson has the world talking right now. The 53-year-old former heavyweight champion is back in training. However, the big question is who will he fight? It’s believed that he’s looking at taking part in a couple of exhibition bouts. There’s no doubt that he’s in unbelievable shape right now.
A couple of names are already linked to fighting him. Evander Holyfield and Shannon Briggs are both believed to be in the frame. However, a couple of less likely names are also in the discussion. Former UFC champion Tito Ortiz insists that Tyson’s representatives offered him the fight.
But the other new name is Wanderlei Silva. This is because of BKFC’s Dave Feldman who wants to pit Silva up against ‘Iron Mike’ in a bare-knuckle war. File that under never going to happen.
Intriguing
Dave Feldman is the President of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships. The promotion has established a niche for savage violence with many former UFC and Bellator fights in their ranks. Their most high-profile match-up so far was between Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov. However, Wanderlei Silva is their most recent signing because he can’t spell CTE.
Feldman wants Silva to fight Tyson. First of all, he offered Tyson $20million to box bare-knuckle. He’s also allegedly offered ‘The Ax Murderer’ a contract too.
“No matter how old Silva gets, he’s dangerous, and I think that would be an intriguing matchup. Something like that, but I don’t actually have anything in mind right now,” he said.
Millions
Needless to say, Silva is very happy to take this fight. The veteran Brazilian would just at this payday but let’s be real, the chances of it happening are very slim. His last fight was a 2018 KO defeat to Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson under the Bellator banner. However, Tyson’s last fight was way back in 2005, when Kevin McBride knocked him out in the third round. It’s been a long time.
“They offered me $10 million-plus pay-per-view percentage and I accepted immediately. I hope Feldman can make it happen,” Silva said (via Boxingscene.com). “I hope Feldman can make it happen.”
We wouldn’t bet on it. Whoever is advising Tyson should tell him to stay as far away from this as possible.
Unlikely
Silva’s longtime coach Rafael Cordeiro says not to get excited. In short, it’s just a rumor so far but this is the fight game. However, if Silva does get the match against Tyson it will definitely be the biggest of his career. But it shouldn’t be bare-knuckle, because Tyson is above that.
“I didn’t get any calls from Wand or Tyson, but as far as I know that fight won’t happen. “Tyson is training to make a boxing fight — with gloves. It is hard to comment about rumors,” Cordeiro said.
The fact that he’s training for a boxing match says it all. Furthermore, ‘Iron Mike’ shouldn’t be allowed to fight bare-knuckle. We might actually be looking at a fatality if that happened.
