Bobby Lashley says there was a feeling-out process for a potential boxing match between himself and WWE Hall of Famer Mike Tyson.
Bobby Lashley loves to be challenged. After accomplishing a great deal in professional wrestling, Lashley tried his hand at MMA, where he would also see success in Bellator. Now fully devoted to WWE, Bobby Lashley is challenging himself by continuing to prove that despite getting older, he has never been better.
Today, Bobby Lashley is a veteran of the locker room and continues to see the landscape of WWE change with the addition of names like Riddle, Theory, and most recently, YouTube sensation, Logan Paul. Paul, like Bobby, enjoys challenging himself and seeking accomplishments in multiple fields. As such, both Logan and his brother, Jake, have tried their hand at boxing where they have done very well.
Speaking with Sean Ross Sapp prior to SummerSlam 2022, Bobby Lashley recalled offering Logan Paul the chance to box with him as he also wants to get experienced boxing and says that there was even an inquiry about whether or not he would be interested in boxing with one of the greatest of all time, WWE Hall of Famer Mike Tyson.
“Man, I told Logan when I did his podcast, I was like, ‘Hey, you looking for somebody to box with? Box me.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, no. You’re too big.’ ‘Man, are you kidding me? I’m a wrestler and you box.’ But I definitely want to do boxing. I have a great boxing coach and we’ve talked about some different things. Some names have been thrown out there. I want to start getting some names out there. There was one that I got approached a few months ago to box Mike Tyson,” said Lashley.
Regarding the offer to face Mike Tyson, Bobby Lashley says the inquiry came from a bare-knuckle fighting organization that was interested in branching out into boxing. Lashley says the proposal came with the idea of a potential big fight in Madison Square Garden. Bobby was definitely interested.
“Somebody came up to me. It was a bare-knuckles organization, but they were gonna do some boxing stuff or one of those other companies. Somebody came to me and said, ‘Would you box Mike Tyson?’ I was like, ‘Hell yeah, I would box Mike Tyson.’
“I think it was a feeling out. They had different people in organizations. It wasn’t the top guy, it was a guy that does some of his promoting and some of his stuff,” Bobby continued. “I think it was one of the money guys that linked up to through my college or something like that. But he approached me and he said, ‘We’re looking for a big fight in Madison Square Garden. Would you be interested in fighting Mike Tyson?’ At first I was thinking Iron Mike and I was like, ‘Damn, that would hurt.’ But then I thought, you know what? I’ve been boxing for a long time. I got a little size on him. I don’t have nearly the skills that he has, but it’s definitely something that I would be interested in.”
Ultimately, even though an agreement was not reached, Bobby Lashley says it would be an honor to get into the ring with Mike Tyson and he would like to be able to take the fight.
“Mike is still Mike. Mike is doing different things with his podcast and Mike’s pretty open about smoking and DMT and everything like that. But he’s still Mike Tyson. But, you know what, everybody talks about, ‘Would you fight Mike Tyson?’ Most people are like, ‘Hell no,’ ‘How much money would you have to get to fight Mike Tyson?’ It’s astronomical numbers for most people. For me? It would be an honor to fight Mike Tyson and I would like to be able to do it. Is it a far stretch for me? Yeah. Might be a little tough. I’m a wrestler. But I’ve been boxing for a long time. So I would definitely like to take that fight,” he concluded
Tyson recently partnered with Ric Flair with Tyson’s cannabis company, “Tyson 2.0.” acquiring a majority stake in Ric Flair Drip, Inc. with the intention of Mike Tyson's company utilizing Ric Flair's trademarks and intellectual property to launch a cannabis line. Learn more here.
