Mike Tyson Could Get More than $20 Million to Fight Wanderlei Silva
Boxing promoter Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship plans to top a previous $20 million offer to host Mike Tyson's comeback fight.
The 53-year-old boxing legend has been training and eyeing a potential return to the ring to raise money for charity.
Wanderlei Silva has been floated as a potential opponent, as have Tito Ortiz and Evander Holyfield.
At 53, boxing legend Mike Tyson has already had quite the career. Still, though, the boredom of quarantine apparently gets to everyone, as Tyson has been looking toward a potential return to the ring, and has said he's in the best shape of his life. Boxing promotion Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship had previously made Tyson a $20 million offer to facilitate his official return, and now is planning to even top that offer.
“I think I know what we need to do to make this thing happen,” BKFC president David Feldman told MMA Fighting. Earlier this month, the promotion offered Tyson $20 million in addition to sweeteners that include charitable donations; Feldman didn't get into specifics of the new offer, saying that it's still being finalized.
Various promotions (including BKFC) have already thrown offers Tysons way, and while the promotion matters a ton, so too does his potential opponent. UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz recently said that someone from Tyson's camp had inquired about a potential matchup, and Tyson himself said that a rematch with his old pal/rival Evander Holyfield (who has also emerged during the quarantine looking toward a potential comeback) for charity "would be awesome."
Feldman, though, had someone else from the MMA world in mind: Wanderlei Silva—who Feldman says immediately reached out to the BKFC following their initial offer to Tyson.
Part of what Feldman says makes the offer to Tyson such a good one, in his opinion, is the process of matching him with "the right kind of guy," adding that he didn't make an offer to Tito Ortiz, and doesn't think it would draw.
"I think a Wanderlei Silva, someone of that nature," he said of the fighter who hasn't fought since a 2018 loss to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. "No matter how old Silva gets, he’s dangerous, and I think that would be an intriguing matchup."
The first priority though, before diving too deep into potential opponents, is getting Tyson on board for the fight. And as of now it still sounds like an uphill battle.
“We’re not successful yet in making that Mike thing happen. But I don’t think the door’s shut," Feldman said. “He did say no immediately. But I think there’s room there.”
Let's hope that "room" is a real thing, because this is starting to sound exciting.
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