LAS COLINAS, Texas — Jim Lampley has known Mike Tyson for nearly 40 years, but he can’t shake one thought that keeps popping into his head.
Tyson’s first fight called by the iconic boxing broadcaster was against Jesse Ferguson in 1986.
Tyson brutally knocked out Ferguson in the sixth round, and after the fight, Tyson famously said, “I’m aiming for the nose to get into Ferguson’s brain.”
At that moment, Lampley realized that Tyson was not only one of the world’s best athletes, but was about to become one of the world’s biggest stars.
Fast forward to 2024, and Lampley’s feelings have turned to concern.
“I’ve watched much of Tyson’s professional boxing career,” Lampley told the Post. “I covered many of his most important games. I’ve interacted with Mike, I’ve sat in the interview room with Mike, I know Mike. …At the end of the day, this… There’s only one strong attitude I have about this: I don’t want anything to happen to Mike that will ruin his last 30 years on this earth. I don’t want it.”
Concerns about Tyson’s health have led to repeated questions: “Is this safe?”
Tyson, 58, will return to the ring on Friday night at AT&T Stadium to face 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in an officially sanctioned heavyweight bout that will put both fighters’ records on the line. .
This will be Tyson’s first professional fight since 2005.
Several states refused to sanction the fight, but Texas only made three conditions: the fight lasted eight rounds instead of 10, each round lasted two minutes instead of three, and the combatants The idea was to wear 14-ounce gloves instead of 10-ounce gloves. Ounce gloves that reduce the impact of punches.
Adding to the doubts hanging over the fight, Tyson suffered an inflammatory ulcer on a plane in May, and the fight was postponed from July 20 to Friday.
Tyson later revealed that he coughed up blood during the incident, but has refused any discussion of his safety and has maintained for weeks that he is safe.
“We recognize that he is a great example of athletic ability,” Dr. Julia Iafrate, a sports medicine physician at New York University Langone Orthopedics, told the Post. “That being said, he’s 58 years old. As we get older, our speed typically slows down. Our agility typically decreases. Our strength probably decreases for a while. That’s one thing he can usually maintain. …He’s going to have to utilize and really rely on his smarts and power rather than his speed and agility.”
Every boxer knows the risks involved in stepping into the ring, and those risks increase the older you get.
“The other thing is that as we age, the amount of water in the brain decreases,” Iafrate says. “Although our brains are technically smaller, our skulls remain the same size. As we get older, we have a higher risk of brain injury if we get hit in the head, and our brains are more easily accommodated within the skull.” Because they can move around so much, there’s a higher risk of hematomas, subdural hemorrhages, and brain hemorrhages. There is a danger.”
Paul may not be the most polished boxer, but he’s certainly capable of throwing big punches. He weighs 227.2 pounds, slightly lighter than Tyson’s 228.4 pounds.
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“Throwing a power punch is not the hardest thing to learn in boxing. There are other parts of this spaceship that are more elusive,” Lampley said. “Muscular, strong fighters can learn how to throw strong punches, so if Jake Paul lands a big shot on Mike, who is temporarily defenseless for some reason, it can do damage. That’s what I’m afraid of and what I don’t want to see.”
But much of the concern comes from outside, not from the fighters themselves.
This is their chosen profession.
“Honestly, it’s pretty crazy,” two-time welterweight champion and current boxing analyst Shawn Porter told the Post. “When you get to a certain age, there are some things you shouldn’t do. But boxing is like life. There are people who are 58 to 60 years old who go skydiving. There are mountain climbers who are 58 to 60 years old. There are people who go scuba diving. There are 58- to 60-year-olds who go, whatever they want to do, as long as it’s something they’re good at, that’s what they know, and that’s all they know. But please keep doing it.”
