LAS COLINAS, Texas — Jim Lampley has known Mike Tyson for nearly 40 years and can’t shake one thought that keeps popping into his mind.
The first Tyson fight the iconic boxing broadcaster called was against Jesse Ferguson in 1986.
Tyson viciously knocked Ferguson out in the sixth round, and Tyson after the fight uttered his famous quote that he was targeting the tip of Ferguson’s nose in order to drive it into his brain.
It was at that moment Lampley knew that Tyson was on his way to becoming not just one of the best athletes in the world, but one of its biggest stars.
Fast forward to 2024, and Lampley’s sentiment has shifted to concern.
“I saw much of Tyson’s professional boxing career,” Lampley told The Post. “Covered many of his most important fights. I have socialized with Mike, sat in interview rooms with Mike, I know Mike. … At the end of the day, I have only one very strongly held attitude toward this thing going in, which is I don’t want Mike to get hurt. I don’t want anything to happen to Mike that messes up his last 30 years on the planet.”
Worry over Tyson’s health has led to the recurring question — is this safe?
Tyson, who is 58 years old, is getting back in the ring to face 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on Friday night at AT&T Stadium in an officially sanctioned heavyweight fight that will count on both fighters’ records.
It will mark Tyson’s first professional fight since 2005.
Several states refused to sanction the bout, and Texas only did with three stipulations — that the fight would have eight rounds instead of 10, that rounds would be two minutes rather than three minutes and that fighters would wear 14-ounce gloves instead of 10-ounce gloves to lessen the impact of punches.
To increase questions hovering over the bout, Tyson suffered an inflamed ulcer during a flight in May, prompting the bout to be postponed from July 20 to Friday.
Tyson has since revealed that he coughed up blood during the incident but has pushed back on any discourse about his safety and has claimed he has been cleared for weeks.
“We acknowledge that he is a specimen of athletic prowess,” Dr. Julia Iafrate, a sports medicine physician at NYU Langone Orthopedics, told The Post. “That being said, he is 58. As we age, our speed typically slows down. Our agility typically slows down. Our power is probably one of the things that we can typically maintain for a while. … He is going to need to utilize and really rely on his smarts and his power more than speed and agility.”
Every boxer knows the risks involved in stepping into the ring, but that risk amplifies the older they are.
“The other thing is that our brains lose water weight or water mass as we age,” Iafrate said. “Our brains technically get smaller and our sculls stay the same size. What can happen is if somebody gets punched in the head as they get older, they are at higher risk for brain injury and higher risk for hematomas or subdural hemorrhages or brain bleeds because that brain is able to slosh around in the skull more easily than it would have when they were younger. Our brain is not as malleable as it was when we were younger. There is potential danger there.”
Paul, while he might not be a polished boxer, is certainly capable of throwing big punches. He weighed in at 227.2 pounds, slightly lighter than Tyson at 228.4 pounds.
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“Throwing power punches is not the hardest thing to learn in boxing. There are other parts of the craft that are more elusive,” Lampley said. “Guys with musculature and strength can learn how to throw hard punches, so if Jake Paul lands some big shots on Mike, who is for whatever reason momentarily unprotected, that can do damage. And that’s what I fear and that’s what I don’t want to see.”
Much of the concern has come from the outside, though — not from fighters themselves.
This is the profession they’ve chosen.
“It’s honestly very crazy,” Shawn Porter, a two-time welterweight champion who is now a boxing analyst, told The Post. “There’s just certain things we shouldn’t do when we get to a certain age. However, boxing is just like life. There are 58- to 60-year-olds who skydive. There are 58- to 60-year-olds that mountain climb. There are 58- to 60-year-olds that go scuba diving. Whatever you love to do, if you’re good at it and it’s what you know and it’s all you know, whatever the case may be, go ahead and do it.”
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