Boxing

Mike Tyson Picks Floyd Mayweather's Next Fight

Mike Tyson made an interesting choice for who he wants Floyd Mayweather Jr. to fight next.
Grant Young|
IMAGO / Cover-Images

With the 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao coming out of retirement to face Mario Barrios on July 19, the topic of legendary boxers who are past their primes returning to the ring has once again become a hot topic of conversation.

Of course, Pacquiao isn't the only former world champion who's well into his forties who has fought in recent years. The most notable of these was when Mike Tyson fought against Jake Paul back in November 2024, when Tyson was 58 years old. While Tyson's form in that bout was a shell of what he could do in his prime, that doesn't mean every fighter who competes in their forties is due to lose.

This is proven by Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr., who has competed in a total of eight exhibition bouts since his last professional fight, which came against Conor McGregor when Mayweather was 40 years old in 2017. While no winners were declared in these exhibition bouts, Mayweather certainly didn't make a fool of himself or look too far gone.

Some believe that a second fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao might be in store, now that Pacquiao (who has been publicly saying he wants that rematch) has made his return. However, Mike Tyson revealed another boxer he wants to see Mayweather fight during his July 17 appearance on NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal's The Big Podcast with Shaq.

"Well listen, people all are gonna hate on Floyd, so they will want to see the fight [against Roy Jones Jr.], they will want to see Floyd get beat," Tyson said when asked about a potential fight between Mayweather and Jones Jr.

He later added, "If he wants to make some money, if Floyd wants to make some money, he could fight... Crawford. If you want money."

Despite Tyson's sentiment, it's hard to imagine that Mayweather would want to fight pound-for-pound great Terence Crawford at this point in their respective careers.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.