Trainer: Tyson’s speed, power like 21-year-olds

A short training clip of Mike Tyson recently went viral, and according to the man who was catching the former champ’s punches, the iconic heavyweight still has some fight left in him at age 53.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” trainer Rafael Cordeiro told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani on Monday. “He hasn’t hit mitts for almost 10 years. So I didn’t expect to see what I saw. I saw a guy with the same speed, same power as guys 21, 22 years old.”

Cordeiro, best known for his work in mixed martial arts, added that anyone that gets in the ring with this 2020 version of ‘Tyson, ”has to be a good guy to spar with Mike.”

Cordeiro says he got the opportunity to work with Tyson, who was the undisputed heavyweight champion in the late 1980s and then held heavyweight titles in 1996, through associates who contacted him about working with “Iron Mike.”

He said he has been working with Tyson for ”three weeks in a row, cardio, mitts, bags. Like I said before, 53 years old but when he puts his mind to it, his body inside the ring — he changes.”

Their sessions range from between 60 and 90 minutes, with Tyson doing his physical conditioning with another coach. At this stage they are between five and seven rounds on the mitts, with Tyson starting off slowly, then building momentum as he gets revved up.

Cordeiro said he believes that within six months Tyson could make a successful comeback as a boxer.

“It’s not a joke,” he insisted. Cordeiro says there is more footage that will be released that shows,”more power, more speed, everything.”

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MMA trainer Rafael Cordeiro says he was impressed by Mike Tyson’s speed and power after hitting the mitts for the first time in a decade.

Tyson may look impressive hitting objects that can’t strike back, but he was stopped in five rounds by the lightly regarded Kevin McBride in his last professional outing in 2005.

“I believe Mike fought against himself for a long, long time,” Cordeiro said. ”He’s proud to be the Mike Tyson he is today.”

Still, even if he could realistically make a return to the ring — does Tyson even want to?

“I don’t know,” said Cordeiro, “but what I can tell you is that if he wants to do something in the future, we’ll be ready to do that, 100 percent.”

Their next session is scheduled for Tuesday. Where this all goes, nobody except Tyson himself has any idea.

“Could you imagine a third fight with Evander Holyfield?” asked Cordeiro.