Mike Tyson is once again an active heavyweight fighter, with his upcoming professional bout against Jake Paul. He will have just turned 58 years old when it takes place on July 20th. That got me thinking, where exactly would Tyson rank among heavyweight fighters? Of course, this is completely subjective, but we will attempt our best guess based on the evidence.
Historical Rankings
Below is the Ring Magazine Top 10 Finishes by Year.
Mike Tyson
Rank
Age
2003
11
37
2002
10
36
2001
3
35
2000
2
34
1999
6
33
1996
3
30
1995
3
29
1991
2
25
1990
2
24
1989
1
23
1988
1
22
1987
2
21
1986
2
20
The Evidence
We have current workout videos where Tyson appears to be in phenomenal shape and moving quite well, displaying nice speed. We also have the Roy Jones Jr. exhibition from 3.5 years ago, which was the last time we saw him in a ring. At the time, Roy Jones Jr. was himself only 2 years removed from beating a top 50 fighter at the time, Scott Sigmon albeit in a lighter division. Tyson bullied Jones around the ring and was the better fighter that night. We know Tyson had something left as little as 3 years ago.
BoxRec
The best place to get an idea of the current landscape and rankings of boxing among active fighters is BoxRec’s rankings. For reference, they have Jake Paul, Tyson’s opponent, ranked 115th in the Cruiserweight Division out of 1250 ranked fighters. Interestingly, Scott Sigmon is ranked just ahead of him at 111th. He’s now 37 years old compared to 30 years old in his prime when Roy Jones Jr. beat him in 2018, two years prior to the Tyson exhibition. Looking for a transitive property, this is the best we have.
BoxRec ranks 1445 heavyweight fighters. Below are their top 20
Automatically, if a fighter who is 52 years old and has a career record of 8-62-3 is ranked 736th, I certainly think a 57-year-old Tyson who is actively training is better than him. Engin Solmaz fought back in January and will fight again this coming week. He’s 6-2, 253 pounds and not in great shape. Sandy Pembroke on the list isn’t much better at 6-0, 250lbs, 51 years old and 3-10 as a fighter ranked inside of the top 600.
#511 Danny Williams
Interestingly, there is a former Tyson opponent on the list above, Danny Williams, ranked 511th at the age of 50 with a record of 55-33. Tyson lost to Williams in his second-to-last fight before retiring. At the time, Williams was 31 years old with a record of 31-3, while Tyson was 38 years old. Tyson seemed very unmotivated in this fight and weighed 233 pounds, which is overweight for him.
In the last 20 years since this fight, Williams has gone 23-30 and taken far more damage than Tyson ever did in his career. Williams last fought twice in 2023, winning in April against a 2-15 fighter and losing to a fighter who was 8-0 in August.
Taking Williams at 511th and Solmaz at 736th. To me, that seems like that is the floor of where I would rank Tyson. After all, he is an all-time great and even at 57 years old, still possesses much greater talent starting point than most fighters in this range even if he has degraded with time.
The Ceiling
Mike Tyson still has a lot of power, and it only takes one punch and anyone can fall victim. Realistically though, I think the highest I could rank him is likely about 300ish. Here is why…
I think Tyson could hang with those fighters. Many are in their late 40s and have little experience, or they have taken a lot of losses and damage in the process on their poor records. A relatively fresh 57-year-old Tyson who wasn’t taking that damage or wearing out his body the last 20 years was just a different class of fighter with a world more experience and muscle memory on the big stage. I think I’d still take that over a random 48 year old with 7 fights ranked about 400th in the world.
Conclusion
Having looked at the world rankings, ages, records, and quality of these fighters, I do think Tyson falls somewhere between 300th and 700th in the world’s best fighters on the planet. I would put the median outcome at 500th. What has opened my eyes looking at the competition is Jake Paul is a quality opponent. What is apparent after doing the homework is that for as much as a spectacle as this upcoming fight is, it’s also a real fight. The quality of the fight is not unlike fights you would see nearly every week around the world between two of the top 500 fighters in the world. It’s probably going to be a higher level than many.
