Lennox Lewis Claims If The Price Is Right He’d Return To The Ring And Fight His Old Foe Mike Tyson

At the age of 52 Lennox Lewis may no longer be a pugilist in his prime, but the old boxer is still up for a fight, particularly if it involves Mike Tyson.

During an interview on the Joe Rogan podcast, Lewis made the extraordinary claim that he wouldn’t rule out going toe to toe and eyeball to eyeball with Iron Mike one last time if someone was willing to front up a mighty hefty price tag.

And when we say mighty hefty that’s no exaggeration. Lewis would be looking for a cool $100 million to get between the ropes with the man he knocked out in the eighth round way back in 2002.

Lennox said, “Well you know, I told people that I’d take my pyjamas off for a $100 million. So if you’re serious – come with it baby, show me the paper.”

Reflecting on his last encounter with Tyson 17 years ago, Lewis explained that he felt he knew Tyson inside out going into the fight because they shared similar histories.

Lewis went on to elaborate that while Tyson was in prison, he was still on the outside, pounding the pavements, working with the bags, and fighting and training hard. And Lewis believes when Tyson returned to the ring for their encounter, it wasn’t out of love for the sport, but because he was fresh out of jail and didn’t know what else to do to put food on the table.

Lennox explained, “When Tyson came out he was training again, doing what he knows not what he loves, that’s going to make him some money – that’s going to put some food on the table. I look at old time fighters and say, what made them stay in boxing so long, that’s the only thing they knew.

“They’re not going to be no singer or dancer or whatever, they only know boxing and this is where they get their money from so that’s what forces them back into the ring.”

A rematch between the heavyweight champs, even in their more advanced years, is a prospect which has got many boxing fans hot under the collar. Some have hailed the prospect as the potential “fight of the century.”

Yet in reality it would be a freak show. These old timers haven’t got the hunger, physiques, or youth to take them to that rare place where they performed in their prime. Such a contest would not be sanctioned or even licensed. It was merely an offhand jest by Lewis taken a little too seriously by fight fans who have been starved for far too long of the quality and charisma that the likes of Tyson and Lewis used to bring to the table.