It has been 19 years and five months since Mike Tyson last stepped into the ring for a sanctioned fight. It was a different time in many ways: Barack Obama was a newly elected senator, the United Kingdom was in the European Union, Floyd Mayweather was two weeks away from facing Arturo Gatti, Manny Pacquiao was a 130-pounder, there was no TikTok or Instagram, and Jake Paul was eight years old.

When Tyson sat down on the canvas in Washington, D.C., yielding under the weight of expectations and Kevin McBride, the notion that we would ever see him in a ring again seemed mighty far-fetched.  Had you suggested back then that he not only would he return, but that he would do so when he was damn near 60, and against a former Disney Channel star – well, you’d have been laughed at the same way you would have been had you asserted that the orange-hued star of The Apprentice would be president one day, and not just once but twice.  

So yes, we are in different times. Strange times, even. Not necessarily, from the perspective of this grumpy old observer, better times. But here we are.

And if you had any doubts about the fact that at least some of these changes are pretty popular, you only had to look at the large crowd of fans and the long line of media waiting to enter the Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas on Tuesday evening, where Tyson, Paul, and others were about to participate in an open workout. 

But if Paul was the initial attractant, his fight with Tyson on Friday the latest iteration of his brilliantly-orchestrated pugilistic career, it soon became clear that the real interest was nostalgic, driven by the prospect of seeing Tyson, however briefly, showing what he does – or does not – still have.

The crowd watched politely and with some enthusiasm - encouraged by host Sibley Scoles’ entreaties for them to make themselves heard - as contender Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington started proceedings with some rope jumping. (As Scoles observed, with Carrington kicking off Friday’s card, the boxing petri dish of Brownsville, New York will be both opening and closing the show). They applauded Brazilian musician, comedian, “influencer” and pro boxing debutant Whindersson Nunes and his Indian opponent Neeraj Goyat. They listened to Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, two of the very best women ever to lace up gloves, express hope that their rematch will be a clone of their 2022 clash in Madison Square Garden.

But the atmosphere changed when Tyson appeared. This was what everyone wanted to see, and even with the awareness that public workouts provide little to no usable information about a fighter’s condition or chances, there was no small intrigue in seeing how he looked.

It felt, frankly, surreal. But there he was, looking in some ways just like the Mike Tyson we have all seen so often before: gloves held high and tight to the face, peek-a-boo style; the dip to the left and then the right; the quick explosive combinations.

Did it seem as if he still has his famous hand speed? Yes. Did he give us any reason to believe he would be able to deploy it with a stiff jab in his face or for longer than a minute at a time? No. But this was a performative exercise; as far as Tyson is concerned, the hard work is over.

“When I agreed to this fight and I started training, I said, ‘What the fuck was I thinking?’” he admitted. “But now I’ve finished the process. The fight is the party. The hard work is done.” And then the man who once threatened to eat Lennox Lewis’ children reflected on the presence of his family in classic Tyson manner, simultaneously excessively self-effacing and oddly menacing. 

“Family is everything,” he said. “To my children, I’m nothing. But on Friday they’re going to find out their father’s pretty fucking special.”

He will need to be special to even be mildly competitive at his age with a 27-year-old who – lest we forget – is actually a professional boxer.

And when Paul took his turn to shadow box in the ring, wearing a red wig in the shape of a rooster in recognition of his new ring nickname of ‘El Gallo,’ he poured as much cold water as he could find on the idea of turning back time.

His family, too, was present; his mother, he admitted, was nervous about watching Tyson throw punches, but he assured her that all would be well.

“On Friday evening, you are going to see me outbox the man who’s been doing it his whole life,” he said. “It’s not about how long you’ve been doing something, it’s about how good you do it.”

And with that, the man with the red rooster wig looked at his mother and said, “I, Jake Joseph Paul, promise that I will knock out Mike Tyson on Friday.”

Different times indeed.

Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcasted about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.