Mike Tyson opens up at the WBC Convention

The legendary Mike Tyson decided to shoot the breeze with reporters at the WBC Convention on one of the top floors of the Hilton Hotel in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in a luxurious room, earning the garland plaudit of: “Ain’t he suite.”

And he was loquacious but not overly judgmental about his towering, giant partial namesake, who’d not enjoyed a peak performance against Francis Ngannou, who he himself coached, saying: “Who is the greatest boxer right now? Tyson Fury. He’s the best one right now, even though he had that tough fight. He still has the title.”

He stressed it’s great to be in Uzbekistan: “Hey I’m just happy to have been involved the WBC ever since 1985. I’m still here, still with them, still supporting them and this is beautiful. I’m happy to be here. I’ve been on longer flights. I can’t complain.”

Switching to Fury’s recent workmanlike performance and asked if much should be written into it, he replied: “We should, but you’ve go to understand he’s still champion. He gave our friend Francis an opportunity, and the a bad night at the office. And listen! That was his bad night.

“This upcoming fight will be interesting. I’m going for Tyson Fury because he’ll just overpower Usyk. Catch up with. I could be wrong.

“Little guys are more difficult to fight, because they are harder to hit, Usyk moves and runs a lot, so there will be a few rounds to deal with his movements, but he’s very difficult to fight.”

Who is his current pick of the crop favorite? “ It has to be Benavides. He’s half Mexican. He’s tough to beat and the toughest fight he might have is against David Morrel. He can KO anyone. But then again, Benavides when he wants to. He slugs a lot, but he’s a real good boxer when he wants to be.”

Getting back to the heavyweights and the dangling possibility of being the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis, Mike adroitly and sagely replied: “I’m a big believer in unifying the titles. But we’re talking business now.

“If there’s only one champion and so many contenders, they’re not going to get a chance to fight for the title. So we have to have more than one to give boxers the opportunity to fight for titles. If they can’t fight for the title, they can’t take care of their family. The more championship fight you have, the better it is for the fighters.

“There’s a lot of great fighters now, but they only fight once or twice a year. That’s not fighting…that’s entertainment. It’s all about attracting the people. That’s what a great fighter does. He fills seats. The people come to see the people he fights. They don’t come to see him. That’s how fighters entertain people.”

Would Mike have liked to have fought in Saudi Arabia during his career?

“Everything is written and it was meant for me to be who I am now. It was meant fir me to work for organizations in Saudi Arabia, so everything is going to plan for life. As for Francis, he did almost the impossible and what’s going to happen in the future one day. There’s going to be one MMA champion and a heavyweight champion at the same time.”

Is compact, high impact Mike Tyson surprised at the sheer size and tonnage of today’s heavyweights, especially Tyson Fury: “He’s rare. He’s one in a lifetime. There’re zalways some big guys but they’ve never been that successful.”

But when he was at the top Mike Tyson was ripped and proportioned. Whereas many today look flabby. He muses: “That’s because of my ego. I always watched the fighters like Alexis Arguello. When you breathed, you could see every muscle in their body. And wow! I want my body to look like that.”

And if others got up at 5am to run, you got up at 4am: “Yea. I just wanted to be ahead of the game,”

What about the program platforms for boxing right now? Mike figures: “Boxing is looking for a home now. You see it changing.”

Asked for happy memories about Mexican idol Julio Cesar Chavez grins: “I’ve been to his house in Culican a couple of times. Good food.”

Back to business concerning his commercial projects: “Movies, selling clothes, boxing equipment, cannabis, marijuana, vapes. Hey, I do a good job.”

So, once the smoke clears, what’s Mike’s prediction for Fury Vs Usyk?
“Fury, because I think he’s the best fighter in the world, especially in the heavyweight division.

“Great fighters lose, great fighters look bad. That doesn’t stop them from being great fighters.”

And is the Middle East full of Eastern promise? More than Vegas?

“Only if it’s consistent. They can’t have a great fight and two years later there’s another fight. They have to be consistent within months. In America, even if they stop, they’ve always got fights somewhere. That’s what Saudi Arabia needs. Constant fights. Maybe in Dubai, but constantly in that area.”