Mike Tyson has been making waves with his decision to return to the boxing ring at the age of 54.
Most men in their 50s are not in peak physical condition, but the former heavyweight world champion has shown age is simply a number as he prepares to fight Roy Jones Jr.
Tyson’s training videos posted on social media show his ripped physique along with that fearsome speed and power that made him a devastating boxer.
His quick rise as a feared and talented youngster was rewarded with the heavyweight world title at the age of 20 in 1986.
He won his first 19 fights by knockout, 12 of those in the first round. He did not taste defeat until his 38th fight when he was beaten by Buster Douglas in 1990.
Iron Mike’s life went off the rails and he spent a number of years in prison after being convicted of rape, bit a chunk out of Evander Holyfield’s ear and tested positive for cannabis in 2000.
The 54-year-old retired in 2005 with a final professional record of 50-6 and admitted to being a regular drug user while his weight ballooned to 27 stone.
Things changed in 2010, though, and he turned to a vegan diet to help him shed weight – and it is still something he follows to this day.
Mike Tyson releases incredible promo for comeback fight against Roy Jones Jr
Tyson has been ramping up his workout regime while also using stem cell therapy to keep him young.
Videos posted on social media show him working out on the pads and he has also been enlisting the help of people like Wladimir Klitschko as he looks to return to the boxing ring.
And he is not the only former athlete in his 50s rolling back the years and looking in incredible shape for their age…
Evander Holyfield
Not to be outdone by his old adversary, Holyfield announced his return to boxing at the grand old age of 57 last month.
The Real Deal, who beat Tyson twice in the 1990s, posted a video of him in the gym and signed off with ‘I’m back’ much like Tyson a day earlier.
He reigned as the undisputed world champion at cruiserweight in the 1980s before going on to do the same in the heavyweight division in the 1990s.
Holyfield continued to box well into his 40s with his last bout coming in 2011, while he was 48, when he beat Brian Neilsen.
It looks like he has been keeping relatively fit over the last decade despite being retired.
The former heavyweight champion has also been posting some workout videos online since he announced his return.
Wladimir Klitschko helps Evander Holyfield train for Mike Tyson rematch in latest workout clip
Under one he wrote: “My first week back in the gym and I feel great. I’m looking forward to stepping up my training sessions and intensity as I prepare for my fight.”
Nigel Benn
The former middleweight and super-middleweight world champion intended to make a return to the boxing ring last year at the age of 55 – but had to abandon it through injury.
The Dark Destroyer was a formidable boxer during the 1980s and 1990s winning world titles in two weight classes and ending with a professional record of 42-5-1.
Benn hoped to add to that last year and was scheduled to fight fellow former world champion Sakio Bika in November before it was scrapped.
Benn, who is now 56, undertook a gruelling regime to get himself in shape and the results were evident.
He would get up a 7am to start his workouts, which included daily weight training and hour-long bike sessions.
At the time, he said: “The Dark destroyer is dead, gone.
“He took drugs, he cheated on his wife. No more, I must not be known as that.
“It’s not about age. I’m in training all the time, I’ve got army discipline.
“My timing is good, my fitness levels now are through the roof. But this is my last fight, no more after this.”
Benn also told talkSPORT last year he had been following a strict vegan diet to get in the physical condition he was in.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m learning from my son. He’s gone on another level.
“I actually train with his strength and conditioning coach.
“He’s gone on a plant-based and all that. Back in my day it was, ‘Yeah, have a bit of steak Nigel three days before the fight.’
“Now you eat four/five meals a day and drink three litres of water…
“Yesterday I cooked Quorn mince, I’m fit from going on the plant-based diet.”
Julio Cesar Chavez
The Mexican boxer had an incredible career that spanned 25 years and was a world champion in three weight classes.
He boasts a professional record of 107 wins, six defeats and two draws and was ranked the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world from 1990 to 1993.
Chavez is widely considered to be one of the greatest boxers of all time and holds a number of records for consecutive title defences (27), title fights (37) and title fight victories (31).
Despite retiring 15 years ago, the 57-year-old keeps himself in incredible shape and regularly posts pictures and videos to his Instagram page to prove this.
In March, he donned his gloves once again for an exhibition bout in front of 10,000 fans in Mexico to raise money for charity.
Ken Shamrock
The MMA and wrestling legend continues to defy the years both inside and outside of sport.
Shamrock is one of the greatest fighters in mixed-martial art history and one of the pioneers of the sport.
He made his debut in 1993 and was still fighting back in 2016 when he was 51! You wouldn’t know it based on this picture he posted on Twitter back in 2015.
He deservedly has his place in the UFC Hall of Fame for all he has done for the sport.
The 56-year-old also had a successful wrestling career and worked with some of the best in WWE history like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker.
Shamrock is now a bare-knuckle boxing promoter while also keeping in incredible shape himself.
Last year, he told talkSPORT about how taking a year off helped him.
He said: “I recently took a year off and let my body rest and it responded well. I’m 55 and have been training since I was a teenager, preparing for competition and never really letting my body heal and rest.”
It looks like that paid off and he is in as good a shape as he’s ever been.
Chuck Liddell
The 50-year-old is another legend of the MMA world and was a pioneer of the sport back in the 1990s and 2000s.
Liddell won the UFC’s light heavyweight championship in 2005 and made four successful title defences.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame four years later and ended with a MMA record of 21-9.
The last of those fights came in November 2018, shortly before his 49th birthday, when he lost to Tito Ortiz.
He admitted to feeling like the grandpa of the sport before the fight, although not many grandpas look like he did.
Liddell wrote: “Good morning everyone! Here we go again. Just doing my grandpa thing who else is in Grandpa mode say aye! Fun fact: one time a fan stopped me to show some love and was trying to say to me that I was The Godfather of MMA and instead they slipped up their words and out came ‘you are the grandfather of MMA’ needless to say the person was embarrassed and quickly corrected himself but we laughed it off.
“Whether I am The Godfather or the Grandfather of MMA it’s a title that I hold with honor. I can’t wait to entertain my fans yet again on November 24 at the Forum in Los Angeles who will be watching? And who are you rooting for? Grandpa or Mr. Potato Head?”
Triple H
The WWE legend is now 51 and is arguably one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all-time and is a 14-time world champion.
He was a major figure during the WWE’s Attitude era in the 1990s and has been a cornerstone of the company.
Triple H, real name Paul Levesque, has also received notable plaudits for his work behind-the-scenes at the WWE and its developmental branch NXT.
He may be sporting a little less hair than he did in his wrestling heyday but his physique is just as good.
Before last year’s Wrestlemania, The Game broke down what his diet was like to get himself as lean as possible for the event.
This involved carb cycling but he does allow himself a cheat meal every so often.
In 2016, he explained what it was like to train to get ready for the younger wrestlers in the WWE: “Training and fitness to me is a lifestyle. It’s who I am and what I do.
“There’s a difference between a normal day and having to wrestle in front of 100,000 people against a young powerhouse like Roman Reigns. How do you get in shape for that? You leave no stone unturned.”
Dave Bautista
Known as Batista in the WWE, the wrestler turned actor is in great shape for a 51-year-old and only retired from professional wrestling last year.
He made his ring debut in 1999 and was a popular figure as he went on to be a six-time world champion.
Since then he has also made a name for himself in the acting world having appeared in the James Bond film Spectre, Blade Runner 2049 and also starring as Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
He won his only MMA fight in 2012 and still keeps himself in great shape despite being in his 50s.
The Rock
Okay, so Dwayne Johnson is not quite 50 (yet) but no list like this would be complete without the most electrifying man in all of sports entertainment.
The Rock is 48 but looks more ripped than ever thanks to his daily gruelling workouts.
Johnson was a defensive tackle with the University of Miami and won a National Championship with them in 1991.
In 1995, he went undrafted and decided to pursue a career in professional wrestling. In the WWE, he became one of the most popular wrestlers of all-time during the much-loved Attitude era.
After wrestling, he has gone on to be a highly-successful actor starring in dozens of box office smash hits. He is currently the highest paid actor in the world.
As well as being an all-round great guy, he is also dedicated to his workout and diet regime.
This can be particularly hard to maintain while on location filming but The Rock has worked out a fool proof system to ensure he has everything he needs.
Often he will rent a warehouse near to where he is staying to build his own gym for the duration of filming, as he explained in this interview in 2016, so he can keep to his routine.
