Tyson full of Middle Eastern promise

FORMER heavyweight champion Mike Tyson converted to Islam during a term in prison and now he has been asked to promote an Arab boxing tournament.

Tyson, sometimes known as Malik Abdul Aziz as a result of his conversion, will appear in Dubai next month as a “guest of honour” to watch the 12 fights featuring male and female boxers from the Middle East and Europe.

Tyson’s boxing career has long been overshadowed by issues in his personal life and the time when he was a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and held the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, at the age of 20 years, four months and 22 days old, seems a lifetime ago. “Iron Mike’s” fearsome reputation in the ring still carries much weight around the world, though, and the man who won his first 19 professional bouts by knockout, with 12 of them in the first round will be paid $160,000 for his involvement in the tournament, according to the Federation of Arab Boxing.

The line-up of the boxers will be released later this month.

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