- Kevin McBride was the man who ended Mike Tyson’s career back in June 2005
- Mike Tyson will contest his first professional bout since that loss this weekend
- The 58-year-old former champion faces YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul
Mike Tyson‘s last professional opponent has sent a chilling warning to Jake Paul ahead of his fight against the former heavyweight champion on Friday night.
The YouTuber-turned-boxer is seeking the biggest scalp on his increasing resume when he takes on Tyson at the AT&T Stadium in Texas this weekend.
Paul is 31 years Tyson’s junior and would ordinarily be expected to claim victory despite his relative inexperience. But Iron Mike’s last opponent, Kevin McBride, who faced him back in 2005, has warned the 27-year-old of Tyson’s raw power.
‘Even though Tyson’s 58, he’s still very dangerous and looks like he still has that power,’ he told The Sun. ‘Fair dues to Jake Paul for getting in the ring with him. I don’t think Jake realises it is a different level.
‘When he gets hit by Tyson on the chin, he’s going to think the whole of America has hit him.’
The ex-Irish boxer, 51, now resides in the United States and earns a living as a paver, but 19 years ago he stunned the ‘baddest man on the planet’ – and the viewing public – by wearing Tyson down until he could take no more.
Packie Collins, the brother of former world champion Steve Collins, along with the late Goody Petronelli, was responsible for getting McBride ready.
‘Camp was about brain and body,’ Packie told Mail Sport in 2020. ‘Kevin has said publicly he had a problem with drink and it was a consideration.
‘We started a 10-week camp in separate rooms and one night I see him walking out towards a couple of bars so I call down, “What you doing?” He says he is going for a walk, but the next day we got a room to share.
‘The most important thing then was getting him to believe he could beat the baddest man on the planet. I got a friend to Photoshop a picture of Tyson on the canvas with Kevin celebrating. We put that next to his bed so it was the last thing he saw at night.’
Meanwhile, McBride told Mail Sport: ‘I remember being told to smile whenever Tyson hit me — if you watch the fight I smile a lot. They were releasing that film, Cinderella Man, about the fighter no one thought would win.
‘I went with Packie three nights before the fight and when we came out he was saying it was a sign. His psychology stuff was massive.’
The former boxed also recalled what Tyson was like in the ring and one incident where he reverted to the darker arts of the sport.
‘I remember to this day he hit me so hard in the sixth it was like leprechauns playing drums in my head,’ McBride said. ‘On instinct I said, “Is that all you got? You’re in trouble”. That is when he tried things. First he got my left arm in a hold and tried to break it.’
A moment later, McBride felt something on his chest. ‘He tried to bite my nipple,’ he added. ‘Thank God he had his mouthpiece in — otherwise I’d be the Irishman with one nipple.’
Unfortunately for the journeyman, his moment never really came after his famous victory. He pocketed only $150,000 for the fight, signed with Don King but didn’t got his shot. He lost six of his next eight fights and retired himself in 2011 after battling alcohol and a lack of motivation.
McBride lives a very different life nearly two decades later. After working as a tree surgeon, he’s now enjoying life as a paver.
‘I have kids and a lovely wife,’ he told The Sun. ‘I still go to the gym and do a little bit boxing. But life goes on. I’m paving now, which is not easy – it’s manual work and I’ve lost about 15 pounds doing it.
‘Every morning I’ll get a cup of coffee and a couple of donuts… I’m living life now, everybody has to live life.
‘I had a dream – to go to the Olympics, fight professionally, then to fight my idol, Mike Tyson. I am happy I got to do just that.’
