It’s 15 years since Mike Tyson last boxed professionally.Aged 38 years and 346 days, Tyson brought the curtain down on his extraordinary career following a loss to Kevin McBride in June 2005.Since then, the American boxing legend has battled various personal demons but now appears to be in a much better place mentally.Four years after hanging up his gloves, the ‘baddest man on the planet’ hit rock bottom.“Laying in bed in a hotel room - I try never to be alone, even if it’s a prostitute, a dog,” Tyson was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail in 2012.“This is really dark. I am in my hotel suite, I’ve got seven women there, and I have a morphine drip, and I had my cocaine, and I had my (Viagra like pill) Cialis, I had my marijuana, I had the Hennessy, and I am at my lowest point because I got paranoid and I thought these women were trying to rob me and set me up.“I started beating them. I was in a dark place. There was a purpose, though, because I didn’t want to give them any more of my soul.
“So this is my devil, this is where I am, I am locked up alone. There is nobody there telling me that I’m doing too much.“That is the devil, he won. I kicked them all out. So that was my lowest point. Oh, man. I am just very grateful to be here - my heart should have blown apart. I was sweating wide awake. No more cocaine. No more. Three years clean.”Fast-forward eight more years and Tyson is now preparing for an incredible return to the ring - to compete in exhibition bouts for charity.‘Iron Mike’ recently uploaded a short clip of himself working the pads, and his speed and power took many by surprise.
He might be 53 but good luck to anybody who steps into the ring against that.
Tyson has managed to get himself in incredible shape - and a side-by-side image showing his body transformation is remarkable…
That’s what hard work and dedication can do for you.
“I’ve been hitting the mitts for the last week,” Tyson recently told reporters. That’s been tough, my body is really jacked up and really sore from hitting the mitts.
“I’ve been working out, I’ve been trying to get in the ring, I think I’m going to box some exhibitions and get in shape.
“I want to go to the gym and get in shape to be able to box three or four-round exhibitions for some charities and stuff.
“Some charity exhibitions, make some money, help some homeless and drug-affected motherf****** like me.”
His trainer Rafael Cordeiro, meanwhile, told ESPN this week that Tyson is displaying the same speed and power as some guys in their early 20s.
"I didn't know what to expect," Cordeiro said. "He hasn't hit mitts for almost 10 years. So I didn't expect to see what I saw. I saw a guy with the same speed, same power as guys 21, 22 years old."