People are starting to wonder if Anthony Joshua could swap boxing for MMA and really shake things up. Right now, he’s still recovering after a terrible car crash in Nigeria last December that killed two of his close friends. He’s back to some light training, but the comeback is slow. Lately, he was spotted at a PFL MMA event in Dubai, just hanging out backstage with Khabib Nurmagomedov, which got people talking even more.

Islam Makhachev, who took over from Khabib in the UFC, seems to think Joshua could actually pull it off. “He showed me and said, ‘I want to make T-shirts,’” Makhachev told Arena Fight TV. “I told him, ‘Okay, I’ll help you with that, but you have to come to Dagestan and work on your wrestling.’ This guy is huge and already one of the best boxers in the world. If he gets his wrestling up, just imagine how dangerous he’d be in MMA.”

Joshua was supposed to fight again in March and then go for a big September bout with Tyson Fury. But after the crash, everything changed. His promoter, Eddie Hearn, admitted, “Before this terrible incident, we were all set for March and then Fury. That’s obviously not happening now, and honestly, I can’t say if it ever will.”

Still, Hearn hasn’t given up hope. “In the next few weeks or months, he’ll probably ramp things up and get back into a proper training camp. There are no promises he’ll fight again, but I expect he will. He loves it, and in a way, it’s something that helps him carry the memory of his friends. Physically, what he’s been through was rough, maybe rougher than most people realise. He’s been working out, but he’s just not ready yet. It’s going to take some time before he’s truly back.”

Back in the 1980s, when Mike Tyson was a young fighter in New York, he had all kinds of opportunities to sharpen the skills that would turn him into the most feared heavyweight in the world.

Now, Tyson looks at boxing in the U.S. and just shakes his head. Being a heavyweight champ used to mean you were a superstar; now, most people can’t even name the guy who holds the title.

That’s why, at 59, Tyson decided to help kick off the Mike Tyson Invitational this March in Las Vegas, the city he calls home. He and his team tracked down the country’s best amateur fighters, brought them together, and gave them a real stage to compete on. The idea? Start pushing boxing back into the spotlight, the way it once was.

“I’ve been watching some of these amateur fights and just thinking, ‘Man, we don’t have enough boxing clubs,’” Tyson said on Friday. “When I was fighting, you could fight at the Ohio State Fair one week, then head to Colorado for nationals a couple of weeks later. That’s the kind of competition we need if we want to keep up with the rest of the world.”

He’s especially worried about boxing’s future in the Olympics. Until the IOC finally announced last March that boxing would be part of the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, nobody was sure if the sport was even going to survive at that level.

Tyson wants to make boxing matter again in America. Sure, you’ll see a huge fight here and there, like the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford super middleweight showdown at Allegiant Stadium that drew over 70,000 people. But those blockbuster nights don’t fix the bigger problem: at the grassroots, boxing’s in real trouble.

“Listen, boxing is dying, and that’s what’s driving me,” Tyson said. “If I can help lift the sport in any way, that’s enough for me.”

He’s open to teaming up with UFC boss Dana White, who grew up loving boxing before he built the UFC into a powerhouse. Through TKO, the company that owns UFC and WWE, White has a big partnership with Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and Sela, a branch of the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

The Alvarez-Crawford card was the first big event under that deal, and Tyson was right there, surrounded by other boxing legends and celebrities.

The thing is, UFC has one guy at the top, calling the shots. Boxing? It’s a mess: different promoters, different organisations, all pulling in different directions.

“I kind of like how the UFC does it,” Tyson admitted. “One guy, he runs it all. It might not work for boxing, but the idea is good. In the UFC, if you turn in a boring fight, you might not get another shot. It’s about entertainment. Boxing, you stink up the show, and they just keep booking you. That needs to change. If you don’t bring exciting fights, you shouldn’t be in the mix.”

Excitement was never a problem for Tyson. He blasted through his first 19 pro fights by knockout, 12 of them in the first round. He became must-see TV, living up to his “baddest man on the planet” nickname. And he meant business. “Everyone has a plan until they get punched,” he once said.

“We’re entertainers, all of us, especially fighters,” Tyson said. “If you don’t put on a show, people will let you know. You might not like what they say, but my job was always to make the crowd happy.”

Now he’s looking for the next Mike Tyson or maybe a whole new crop of Tysons to fire up the sport.

This invitational won’t fix everything, but it’s a start.

“When I was a kid, I learned boxing is about putting asses in seats,” Tyson said. “That’s where greatness comes from.”