Evander Holyfield has shut down the prospect of a trilogy fight with Mike Tyson just over a year after the pair's teams last negotiated.
Both Tyson and Holyfield are in their 50s, and came out of their athletic and pay-per-view drawing primes decades ago. But they made their returns to the ring within a year of one another under the Triller banner during the coronavirus pandemic, with Tyson's comeback in particular attracting a massive audience in November 2020.
Tyson drew with Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition bout behind closed doors before Holyfield stepped in at short notice to face Vitor Belfort when Oscar de la Hoya pulled out of their fight after being hospitalised with coronavirus. But that comeback was much less successful, with a fraction of the audience buying the PPV and Holyfield getting knocked out within a round.
The pair were in talks at the start of 2021 over a possible trilogy bout under exhibition rules, but the purse split caused too many issues and it never materialised. Their first meeting was in 1996, with the rematch taking place in 1997 and Holyfield winning both, first by TKO and then by DQ when Tyson infamously bit his ear.
Asked by TMZ if the fight would ever happen, Holyfield replied: "Not that I know. It's too late now, we're all done now. I've been retired but no it's done."
Holyfield had seemed to be angling for one more fight after his loss to Belfort, insisting that the stoppage was early despite being brutally beaten within the two-minute round they shared in Florida. He had been dropped early, later claiming that Belfort stepped on his foot, before shelling up, forcing the referee to step in and stop the fight.
"He shouldn’t have stopped the fight that quick,” Holyfield said during his post-fight interview. “I wasn’t hurt, there wasn’t one shot that hurt me really bad. He got me with a shot and I was off balance, I’m not hurt, it’s kind of sad. The guy pushed me, the guy is strong."
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Tyson has been eyeing up a ring return this year, claiming that he would be interested in taking on Jake Paul in a massive money exhibition bout. At 56-years-old, Tyson would face a tough task against Paul, who is a hard-hitting young 5-0 prospect, but could still draw a massive audience.
His bout with Roy Jones Jr in November 2020 landed him another spot on the top 10 all-time PPV sales list, and made millions at the box office. On that card, Paul knocked out basketball star Nate Robinson in the co-main event to announce himself as a new star in the sport and go 2-0 as a professional.
The YouTuber has since stopped former Bellator and ONE FC champion Ben Askren, as well as ex-UFC champion Tyron Woodley in a rematch after beating him by split decision first time around. Tyson, even in his fifties, would be Paul's toughest test to date given his size and boxing experience.
