Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will face off in the ring in spring 2026, according to CSI Sports/Fight Sports, which signed the two boxing legends for the matchup. The location and date for the exhibition are still to be determined.
Tyson teased the matchup in a social media post with a fight poster of their two faces that he captioned: “Coming Soon.”
“I still can’t believe Floyd wants to really do this,” Tyson said in a statement. “It’s going to be detrimental to his health, but he wants to do it, so it’s signed and it’s happening.”
The matchup pairs the two biggest stars in the sport over the past 40 years, who were also the two highest-paid boxers all-time. Tyson made an inflation-adjusted $965 million since he turned pro in 1985, which ranks No. 19 all-time among athletes.
Tyson was the youngest heavyweight world champion in history, but he is the poster child for athletes mismanaging their money. The boxer filed for bankruptcy in 2003 despite more than $400 million in career earnings, unadjusted for inflation.
Outside of a 2020 exhibition against Roy Jones Jr., Tyson hadn’t fought in nearly 20 years before a November bout against Jake Paul, who at 27 years old was 31 years younger than Tyson. Netflix said the fight had 65 million concurrent streams, making it the most-streamed sporting event ever.
“Money” Mayweather is the only boxer to pocket more than $200 million from a fight, and he did it twice, first against Manny Pacquiao in 2015 and then versus Conor McGregor in 2017, when he raked in a record $275 million.
Mayweather retired in 2017 with an undefeated record in 50 fights. He has fought a handful of lucrative exhibitions since then. Mayweather’s inflation-adjusted earnings are $1.52 billion, 10th all-time, since his first pro fight in 2016.
“You already know that if I am going to do something, it’s going to be big and it’s going to be legendary,” Mayweather said. “I’m the best in the business of boxing. This exhibition will give the fans what they want.”
CSI Sports was founded by brothers Richard and Craig Miele in 1997. Earlier on Wednesday, the company announced that longtime media executive John Skipper joined its board. The company also added Mark Taffet (formerly HBO PPV), Brian Robinson (American Idol Productions) and Chris DeBlasio (Showtime Networks) to its leadership team.
