Mike Tyson’s scream in the boxing jungle

At 58 he is ready to punch the world, certainly his age, hopefully not his legend. Back in the ring, as if time had never passed. Mike Tyson challenges YouTuber and influencer Jake Paul, 27 years old: it could easily be his son. An exhibition, come gentlemen. Eight shots of two minutes each, to be consumed on the night between Friday 15th and Saturday 16th, at 5 in the morning Italian time, exclusively on Netflix.

A ticket to be in the front row, facing the ring, at the AT&T in Arlington, Texas, costs up to up to two million dollars. He says: Tyson does it for money. This is probably the case (there is talk of 20 million dollars, while his opponent has already declared that 40 is expected for him), but perhaps this is not the only reason. He does it because the old flame of ambition still burns inside himthat ferocious hunger that made him, in his golden age, in the 80s and 90s, the strongest and most hated boxer in the world.

Fists and violence, scratches and crooked destinies. Iron Mike. Hannibal Mike. Mike the Beast. The bad guy. The Ogre of the ring. The one who bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear in 1997. The bad face of America. The one who defined himself as a “demon escaped from hell”, the one who, when asked “Mike, what is happiness for you?”, replied growling: “Happiness for me is death”.

The predestined who after a violent life, at 13 he had already ended up in prison 38 timesfound his reason for living in the ring, the one who won, the youngest in history, a world heavyweight title (WBC): it was 1986, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old. The monster who beat women ended up in prison for this, three years as a prisoner, and when he came out he spat a horrible sentence on the woman who had reported him. “Miss Washington ruined my life, now I’d really rape her.” The braggart who boasted: “Before every fight I sleep with five women at the same time.”

A perfect storm, Mike Tyson. Always with a return ticket to Hell in his pocket, with chronic depression to keep him company. In recent years it seems to have found a balance. He lives in California, has the pose of a manager, is the head of a company that grows (legally) marijuana and “products designed to support a happy and satisfying lifestyle”. Business is booming: in 2023 it had a turnover of 150 million dollars. He recently supported Donald Trump’s run for the White House.

The President of the United States himself – a few hours before the election – to confirm the friendship that unites him to Iron Mike, with his usual elegance, had confided that it would be nice to see «Mike and Kamala Harris facing each other on the ring”. No Harris, Mike Tyson will fight Jake Paul. It will be his first professional fight since losing to Kevin McBride in 2005when he lost the title of world heavyweight champion. Twenty years have passed. He will do it for the money and the glory, to be able to make his scream heard in the jungle again.