Mike Tyson is taking heat from two directions this week, and none of it is coming from a man in the opposite corner. His public appearance with Donald Trump set boxing fans off, MARCA reported, and RingSide24 framed the reaction as backlash over Tyson openly backing a controversial figure. His response, per RingSide24’s headline, fit in three words: “It’s a choice.” He didn’t apologize or walk anything back. He owned it and moved on.
The second story hit harder. Tyson opened up about his fears of death, AOL reported, and said he sometimes feels like he’s “lived too long.” That’s a startling thing to hear from a man who spent the late 1980s making grown heavyweights look like they’d wandered into the wrong building. So far both stories have surfaced mostly as headlines. The fuller versions (where he said it, who was asking, what came right before) haven’t been widely laid out, and that matters when a man says something that raw.
The last time he laced them up
The most recent picture of Tyson in a ring is still November 15, 2024, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, streamed live on Netflix, against Jake Paul. Bloody Elbow called it Paul’s “controversial” match against Tyson. It sat in the middle of a six-fight winning streak for Paul that also included a win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
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That streak is over. Anthony Joshua stopped Paul in Round 6 in 2025 and broke his jaw doing it. Paul, now 29, hasn’t boxed in 2026. On October 8 he posted a 15-fight wish list on X under the line “Before I rest.” It names Canelo Alvarez, Francis Ngannou, Conor McGregor, Sean Strickland, Darren Till, Ryan Garcia, KSI, Chris Eubank, Edgar Berlanga, Tom Aspinall, Deontay Wilder, Nate Diaz in MMA, and a world title. Tyson’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on it. The bookies are already playing along, too. BetOnline.ag opened Paul at -170 and Strickland at +140 for a fight that MMA Mania doubts happens before 2028, if it happens at all.
Top Rank’s X account was still riding Tyson’s name this week. On October 7 it posted a link with the caption “Mike Tyson proved him wrong 😬.” The current reporting doesn’t mention another fight, exhibition or announced appearance for him, so for now the news is about what he says, not what he’s booking.
My take: the Trump photo op will get argued about until the next one comes along, and Tyson has made it plain he doesn’t care who’s mad. The line that stays with me is “lived too long.” A man whose name is still the shorthand for fear in a boxing ring just told people he’s afraid of dying, and that admission deserves more attention than any picture he posed for this month.
