CAPE TOWN – Mike Tyson’s ferocious right hook could still kill somebody despite the former undisputed world heavyweight champion being 53 years old.
This is the view of Tyson’s trainer Rafael Cordeiro, who has been working with the former champion in a bid to get him back in shape for his return to the boxing ring.
“What I can tell you is that if he want to do something in the future, he’ll be ready for that, 100 percent,” Cordeiro said in an interview with ESPN.
“Boxing, for sure, if he wants to come back to boxing, give him six months he could come back and fight against anyone. I’ll put my word to that, it’s not a joke,” said Cordeiro.
“You guys can see on the mitts, that was the first mitts session. Can you imagine after three weeks? The guy is a great student.
The mixed martial artist was impresed by Tyson’s conditioning since he started training again, saying: “As soon as we started training I said, ‘my lord’. I didn’t know what to expect. He hadn’t hit the mitts for I think almost 10 years, I didn’t expect to see what I saw.
“I saw a guy with the same speed, same power as guys who are 21, 22 years old.
“And I can tell, you’ll have to be a good guy to spar with Mike. If you’re not prepared, you’ll get dropped, for sure. The power is a different level. I’ve trained a lot of heavyweights in my career. When you talk about this power … his right hook I can feel it, you can tell, it could kill somebody.