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Mike Tyson has welcomed Dana White’s venture into boxing is going to provide a huge boost to the sport.
White, the chief executive officer and president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), has transformed the sport since he took over in 2001. He first ventured from MMA into boxing when he co-promoted the fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Conor McGregor because the Irish fighter was contracted to UFC.
Despite backtracking from moving into boxing, saying in 2022 that promoting in the sport was “a broken business that is an absolute nightmare to try to fix”, he has continued to be linked with it, including his Zuffa Boxing promotion.
Tyson, who is due to fight YouTuber Jake Paul on November 15 has welcomed White’s links to boxing.
“That’s going to be the best thing to happen to boxing, just like UFC,” Tyson said, reported by mmafighting.com. “If you’re in UFC, and if anybody’s booing the fight, you’re not going to see that guy. His next fight is going to be in South Dakota somewhere. Only good fights. If you don’t have a good fight, you ain’t never going to see that guy again.
“Not like boxing, ‘This guy’s going to fight next month again? We don’t want to see that.’ … if any fights stink, you’re not back in the UFC no more, you’re never going to see those guys again.”
Tyson, now aged 58, had been due to fight Paul in July, but a pre-fight medical issue saw the bout postponed until the Autumn, it will be his first competitive fight since 2005. The former heavyweight champion is 31 years older than Paul, who has made his name as a YouTuber and social media influencer and has not competed.
On fighting Paul, Tyson said: “He’s improved since the first time he fought. I started him off, I started Jake off. I let him fight on my undercard four years ago, no one knew who the hell he was. So I started him and, most likely, it looks like I’m going to finish him.”
