Was Allowing Mike Tyson To Fight At 59 Good?

On November 15th of last year, the Texas Commission gave former world champion ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson a license at the age of 59 to fight Jake Paul, age of 28, over Netflix.

Obviously, it was all about money, not the safety of boxers. Tyson losing to Paul was difficult for this writer a fan of Tyson to watch. It looked like he was stepping in cement.

Tyson, in my opinion, was one of the top ten heavyweights of all time who must have needed the money to take this fight against one as inexperienced as Paul, which was a financial success.

Paul was 10-1 with no amateur experience and, in his ten fights, defeated five opponents who were making their debut and two with 0-1 records.

It was sad watching Tyson going through the motions of losing to Paul which should have been an exhibition, not an official fight. Scores were 79-73 twice and 80-72 in favor of Paul.

Four days after this bout, the Tennessee Commission gave former World heavyweight champion Oliver ‘The Atomic Bull’ McCall, 59-14, a return after over five years at age 59 to fight and defeat Stacy ‘Bigfoot’ Frazier, 16-22, at the age of 54. Frazier had lost nineteen of his last twenty fights and had been stopped in thirteen of them. McCall stopped Frazier in two rounds.

In February of this year, McCall stopped Gary Cobia, 3-4, who is 52, in the first round, again in Tennessee. On March 18th, McCall will have his third fight in Tennessee with an opponent to be named. One may remember McCall having what seemed a nervous breakdown in a loss, crying uncontrollably in the ring after one of his losses.

In November of 1994, former world champion ‘Big’ George Foreman became the oldest boxer to win a world title fight when he defeated IBF and WBA World heavyweight champion Michael ‘Double M’ Moorer, 35-0, in Nevada.

Previously, the oldest to win a world title was former two-division world champion ‘Ruby’ Bob Fitzsimmons, who won a world title at age 40.

Recently, former world champion Wladimir ‘Dr. Steelhammer’ Klitschko, 64-5, announced his possible return to the ring at age 49, not fighting since 2017 after having lost to champion Anthony ‘AJ’ Joshua for the second straight time. Is this in an effort to top Foreman’s record at 45?

Where will it come to an end, allowing boxers to fight well past 40, let alone near 60? A fighter’s death in the ring?