Mike Tyson has agreed to another high-profile fight as he approaches his 60th birthday, and the former heavyweight champion says he had a very simple reason for doing so.
Tyson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have agreed to an exhibition fight that is scheduled to take place at some point in the spring of 2026. During an interview with SportsRadio 94WIP in Philadelphia on Friday, Tyson was asked how the bout came together. He said Mayweather started “talking a lot of s—” out of nowhere.
“Because Floyd was talking a lot of s— and challenged me. I was minding my business. I wasn’t thinking about him,” Tyson said. “I was thinking about another way where we could invest more money in this and do this. I wasn’t thinking about fighting or nothing. We were all happy about the Jake Paul fight. We were thinking, you know, man, we could never top this, man. How could we top this?”
Tyson fought Paul last November in an event that was widely mocked. Paul, who is 31 years younger than Tyson, won in an eight-round unanimous decision. The fight actually counted towards the official record of both fighters, with Tyson dropping to 50-7 for his career.
Tyson said he was “really depressed” after fighting Paul.
“It was, like, depressing, I was really depressed. I said how could we ever top this? Nobody could ever top this. We broke the whole television system,” Tyson added. “And this came up. I gotta be careful what I ask for. I might get it, huh? Listen, I wasn’t expecting this. This guy just came out talking some mad s—. I didn’t say nothing to him or anything. I love Floyd. He’s talking crazy.”
Mike Tyson says he's only fighting Floyd Mayweather because “he started talking crazy”
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) September 12, 2025
Watch full interview on our YouTube channel: https://t.co/eKSxWFQQdI pic.twitter.com/XBRqaWkrZe
Mayweather is 48, so he and Tyson are much closer in age than Tyson and Paul. Floyd has not had an official fight since 2017, though he has taken part in several exhibitions. His latest was a non-scored bout against John Gotti III in August 2024.
The big question is whether Tyson will be healthy enough for even just an exhibition against Mayweather. He dealt with some issues that forced a postponement with his fight against Paul, but the event still generated a ton of hype and money. Tyson’s exhibition against Mayweather will do the same if it winds up happening.
