Boxing fans have been captivated by a conspiracy theory suggesting that a ‘time traveller’ attended Mike Tyson’s fight against Peter McNeeley in 1995.
The match, which ended in the first round with Tyson’s dominant performance, has been revisited through a video that surfaced on YouTube in 2015. In the footage, an individual in the audience can be seen recording the fight on what appears to be a modern-day smartphone.
The reason behind the speculation is that the device in question features a camera lens located at the top left, resembling the positioning on contemporary phones, whereas cameras from that era typically had the lens in the center. This led some fans to believe that a ‘time traveller’ was present, capturing the action on a futuristic device.
However, further investigation into the matter has offered a plausible explanation. A report from HITC suggests that the device may not have been a smartphone after all, but rather a camera such as the Casio QV-10A or the Logitech Fotoman. Both cameras were released in 1995 and featured corner-mounted lenses. Another theory proposed by a Twitter user is that the device could have been a Fujix Simple HI8 Camcorder, released in 1993.
Despite these explanations, there are still those who remain convinced that the individual with the device was indeed a ‘time traveller’ who traveled back to witness Mike Tyson’s extraordinary skills firsthand. The debate continues among boxing enthusiasts, with the allure of the ‘time traveller’ theory adding an intriguing element to the story surrounding Tyson’s iconic fights.
After McNeeley, Tyson would engage in a brief but earnest series of serious bouts that momentarily positioned him as the prospective champion once again. He faced an undefeated Buster.
Two years ago, the boxing world found itself on the brink of an unexpected event: a real prizefight between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr., the former “Kid Dynamite” versus the former “Captain Hook.” This unlikely match-up between two aging legends, well into their sixties, eventually took place as an exhibition bout, resulting in a split draw after eight rounds of action. However, what captivated fans even more than the fight itself was their reaction to the prospect of Jones and Tyson returning to the ring.
Twenty-five years later, Mike Tyson once again stepped into the ring, in a match which could also be termed a parody, though not a comeback. In a bid for some pre-fight publicity for “The Lockdown Knockdown,” Mike made an appearance on Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week,” the program billed as, believe it or not, “Tyson vs Jaws: Rumble on the Reef.” All the hype for the Tyson vs Roy exhibition match just proved once again that the Mike Tyson spectacle has never really ended. And it remains highly profitable. Make of it what you will, but Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr. was the biggest boxing pay-per-view event of 2020, grossing over eighty million dollars in revenue.
