Mike Tyson was once lined up for a boxing match against a WWE legend, with the bout set to take place at Wrestlemania.
Mike Tyson was once lined up for a boxing match against a WWE legend, with the bout set to take place at Wrestlemania.
On July 20, Tyson will return to the ring to face Jake Paul, four years after his last exhibition bout with Roy Jones Jr and 19 years since his last professional fight in 2005.
Tyson, once the youngest-ever heavyweight champion and the first heavyweight to hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, will take on the YouTuber-turned-boxer in Texas.
Paul, who is 30 years Tyson’s junior, has thus far competed in 10 professional fights and registered a record of nine victories and one defeat against heavyweight Tommy Fury.
Years before Tyson agreed to fight Paul, he had been lined up to take on another superstar in a peculiar crossover bout.
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Triple H, one of the WWE’s most notorious heels, was once in discussions to take on Tyson in a six-round boxing match at Wrestlemania 17, with Stone Cold Steve Austin versus the Rock also set to be on the same card.
However, Iron Mike was allegedly asking for too much money for the company.
“We were going to do six rounds. I don’t remember if it was going to be full boxing rules, or whether I was wearing gloves,” Triple H told WWE.com.
Triple H is one of the most notorious heels in wrestling history (Getty)
“But it ended up being a deal where the whole thing just would have been a ludicrous amount of money, and it got pushed off.”
Tyson did appear in WWE while serving a suspension from boxing for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear off.
Iron Mike allegedly had no money coming in at the time and was offered $3.5million (£2.78million) to appear as the special guest referee at WrestleMania 14 and several appearances in the run-up to it.
Strangely, Tyson’s notoriety only grew with his controversial attack on Holyfield and with WWE billing him as ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ ratings skyrocketed.
