Mike Tyson bare-knuckle boxing? BKFC president David Feldman wants to make it happen
Mike Tyson has arguably one of the strongest punches in boxing history. Known during his professional years for his savage speed and potency, Tyson has won 44 out of his 50 boxing fights with a knockout.
Although the rules of Tyson's next bout against former four-division champion Roy Jones Jr forbid the boxers from going for the KO win, Tyson could display the full strength of his blows soon in a more unusual style. At least that's what the president of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC), David Feldman, thinks.
Before Tyson announced his return to the rings for an exhibition fight against Jones Jr, the former heavyweight champion received a mindblowing eight-figure offer to engage in an approved knuckle fighting event hosted by BKFC. But Tyson didn't accept it.
Although Feldman wasn't successful in persuading Tyson on his first approach, the BKFC president is convinced that the 55-year-old pugilist will change his mind after seeing the success of his bout with Jones Jr.
"Here's the thing — how many people are going to watch this fight? Everybody," Feldman said. "Now, just imagine, this is a quote-unquote sparring session. Not really a sparring session, but let's call it that cause that's what they're billing it as."
Feldman refers to the fight as 'sparring' because that is how the California Athletic Commission has been describing it. They hope that calling it a 'sparring' contest will talk the two legendary boxers, who are in their fifties, into not trying to knock each other out during the eight two-minutes round fight.
"Now imagine if he was to fight not a boxer but an MMA fighter in a bare-knuckle fight. It would double or quadruple the interest in this thing. So maybe something can happen after this fight. Who knows," said Feldman. "Let's see what Mike Tyson looks like on Saturday night. Let's see how Roy Jones looks because who knows what could happen, but I'm definitely going to be a very, very interested spectator."
However, the BKFC boss doesn't buy the idea that the fighters will respect the bout's stipulated rules too much. Feldman knows that Tyson and Jones Jr could not have been so successful without having an insatiable desire to win.
"Look, they have different things in place right now that says you can do this, you can do that, but at the end of the day, I explained it like when I used to spar my brother all the time," Feldman told. "Whoever landed the first shot, it turned into an all-out war every time that we sparred. Call it a sparring session or not; these are two of the best that ever did it. I would be very shocked if one of them hits the other with a good shot that it doesn't turn into an all-out war. I'll be very shocked at that."
Even though the fight will have no declared official winner after the last bell rings, Feldman thinks the clash will have a clear winner at the end of Tyson vs Jones Jr.
"I think there's going to be a knockout even though technically they're not allowed to have a knockout," Feldman said. "I think there's going to be a knockout, but who knows what's really going to happen. I do think it's going to turn into a fight. If I thought it was just going to be an exhibition and I didn't think they were going to end up exchanging blows, I probably wouldn't be interested. But I'm definitely going to be tuning in for that fight."
What is the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship that wanted Mike Tyson as one of their fighters?
Founded in 2018, the promotion aims to popularize one of the world's oldest sports. They have already hired some MMA big names and have recently rejected the idea of going after UFC middleweight legend, Anderson Silva.
Since it's blooming in the late 1800s, bare-knuckle boxing was always considered a lower, less sophisticated version of their model younger brother, pugilism.
Surviving in the underground and illegality until nowadays, bare-knuckle boxing finally has a chance to shine. After many courtroom fights to sanction the exchange of crude, unprotected punches, promoter David Feldman ultimately managed to put his vision into practice by hosting the first-ever legal bare-knuckle boxing match in 2018 in the American state of Wyoming.
Here you can check some of the most brutal knockouts ever during these bare-knuckle bouts.