‘Let’s fight, mate’: John Fury challenges Mike Tyson for December

Tyson Fury is set to face Francis Ngannou this Saturday in Saudi Arabia, and is also expected to face Oleksandr Usyk in a Dec. 23 undisputed heavyweight championship fight.

His father, John, is challenging Mike Tyson — who has been working in Ngannou’s training camp — for a fight on that December card.

“You know, me dad’s game, he’s offered to fight Mike Tyson, he’s ready to rock n’ roll,” Tyson said before calling his father over to speak for himself.

“Listen, let me tell you this much, I respect Mike Tyson. I named me son after him,” John said. “But I’m a fighting man, I’ve got a warrior’s heart. I’m in Saudi. Bring it on!”

Tyson asked how many weeks he’d need to prepare, a question at which John scoffed.

“None! I can go tomorrow. Old men. We’re old men! We don’t need training camps, we don’t need nothing,” he said. “Let’s fight, mate! If you want to fight me, let’s fight now! We’ll get on (Dec. 23), me and you, and we’ll have a straightener. Get on there!”

John Fury is 59 years of age, Mike Tyson is 57. They were, of course, both professional boxers. Tyson was a world heavyweight champion who went 50-6 (44 KO) between 1985 and 2005, while John went 8-4-1 (1 KO) in 13 fights between 1987 and 1995. So pretty similar, really.

This almost surely won’t actually happen, of course, but it is boxing in 2023, and we have to say almost surely, not “certainly,” because a lot of wild, weird stuff does happen now, and if the Saudis were to offer Mike Tyson and John Fury a ton of money for an exhibition or however they’d want to treat it, you just can’t say “never” anymore.