Boxing
FORMER BOXING LEGEND, MIKE TYSON REGRETS KEEPING TIGER PETS
Boxing legend Mike Tyson has admitted his regret about owning two tigers as pets, saying he was ‘foolish’ because the animals could ‘kill you by accident’.
According to Daily Mail of UK, the former heavyweight became synonymous with the wild cats after bringing them into his home and had been seen playing and fighting with the dangerous predators, but now he reflects that was ‘wrong’ to do so.
Speaking to rapper Fat Joe on Instagram Live, he said he was naive to think he could control the tigers, conceding that one hit from them would be deadly.
‘I was foolish,’ he said. There’s no way you can domesticate these cats 100 per cent.
‘There’s no way that’s going to happen. They’ll kill you by accident, especially when you’re playing rough with them, you’re punching them back. They get hyped up, hit you back and you’re dead.
‘I’m just happy I educated myself. I was doing the wrong sh**. I shouldn’t have had them in my house, believing they were domesticated. I was wrong.’
‘Iron Mike’ said the idea to own a tiger came while he was serving jail time in the 1990s, with a friend suggesting that one would ‘look cool in your Ferrari’.
‘I was talking to one of my friends who I bought cars from, and he was saying one of my friends owed him money,’ Tyson said.
‘He said, “If he doesn’t pay, I’m going to take some of these cars and trade them in for animals”, and I said, “What kind of animals?’ He said, “Horses and stuff”. And he said, “They have some nice tigers and lions, too. If you got one of those, that would be cool in your Ferrari”.
‘I said, “That’s true. Why don’t you order me a couple and I’ll be getting out in a couple months”.
‘So, when I got out, I came home and I had two cubs.’
Tyson’s comments came as he discussed the popular new Netflix documentary Tiger King, telling the story of a zoo owner and the underworld of cat breeding.
He has seen the programme and responded by posting a picture on his Instagram page holding one of his tigers on a leash, writing: ‘The original Tiger King’.
Oleksandr Usyk will put his WBC heavyweight title belt on the line against Dutch kickboxer Rico Verhoeven on May 23 at Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza, Ring Magazine announced on Friday.
The Ukrainian three-times undisputed champion holds the IBF, WBA and WBC titles after vacating the WBO belt.
The 39-year-old has not boxed since beating Britain’s Daniel Dubois at London’s Wembley Stadium last July.
“I respect his (Verhoeven’s) journey – he’s truly the ‘King of Kickboxing’. But this is boxing – a different game, with its own rules and its own kings,” said Usyk, who has a 24-0 record.
“I’m ready and looking forward to meeting him in the ring. It’s going to be a unique experience for both of us, and I know the fans are excited too. A big night is coming.”
The ‘Glory in Giza’ fight will be streamed live on DAZN.
“I spent 12 years as the undisputed heavyweight kickboxing champion and accomplished everything I set out to accomplish,” Verhoeven, 36, told The Ring.
“But staying at the top for that long didn’t take away from the hunger; it strengthened it. Usyk is the undisputed champion in boxing. That’s the kind of challenge that motivated me. Undisputed versus undisputed.”
Verhoeven has sparred in the past with former champion Tyson Fury and had one professional bout in 2014, which he won by a knockout.
-Reuters
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Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will face off in a professional rematch at the Sphere in Las Vegas in September, with the bout streaming globally on Netflix, the fighters and promoters announced on Monday.
The fight marks Mayweather’s return from retirement and will be the first professional boxing match held at the Sphere.
Mayweather, who holds a perfect 50-0 record with 27 knockouts, defeated Pacquiao in their 2015 encounter dubbed the “Fight of the Century.”
That bout generated a record 4.6 million pay-per-view buys and a $72 million live gate at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“I already fought and beat Manny once. This time will be the same result,” Mayweather said in a statement.
Pacquiao, whose record stands at 62-8-3 with 39 knockouts, expressed confidence he would hand Mayweather his first professional loss.
“I want Floyd to live with the one loss on his professional record and always remember who gave it to him,” the Filipino fighter said.
The rematch will stream to Netflix’s more than 325 million subscribers worldwide, continuing the platform’s push into live boxing.
The streaming platform has recently broadcast several high-profile fights, including Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson, which the company said drew 108 million live global viewers
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Former multi-weight world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather will come out of retirement this year for his first official fight in nearly a decade, his new promotion CSI Sports/Fight Sports said on Friday, though his opponent has yet to be decided.
Before his official return, Mayweather is set for an exhibition bout with fellow boxing great Mike Tyson, with the date and venue still to be announced.
“I still have what it takes to set more records in the sport of boxing – from my upcoming Mike Tyson event to my next professional fight afterwards – no one will generate a bigger gate, have a larger global broadcast audience and generate more money with each event – than my events,” Mayweather, 48, said in a statement on his new promotion’s website.
It will mark the American’s fourth comeback from retirement, following previous exits in 2007, 2015 and 2017 — the last after beating Conor McGregor to extend his record to 50-0. He has, however, fought several exhibitions since.
Across a three-decade career, Mayweather defeated many of his era’s top fighters and headlined the three highest‑grossing bouts in history, against Manny Pacquiao, McGregor and Canelo Alvarez.
-Reuters
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