Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson made a bold prediction about the midterms, declaring that Donald Trump will win.
There’s just one problem: the president isn’t on any ballot
Tyson made the baffling comment while speaking to reporters in the White House briefing room Friday before accompanying Trump to a political rally in Syracuse, New York.
When a reporter asked Tyson, who was smiling, what he and the president had talked about, he responded “golly,” and dodged the seemingly simple question. He then turned to White House aides, saying, “I can’t believe you guys put me up here.” A White House staffer piped up, “No tough questions.”
Asked whether Republicans would win the midterms, the former boxing champion replied, “I think Donald Trump’s gonna win.” He offered no further explanation.
As Trump, 80, and Tyson, 60, walked to Marine One en route to Syracuse, the president quipped to reporters: “I won’t be fighting him today… We’ve been friends for a long time. Iron Mike: There’s nobody like him.” Tyson fought several bouts at Trump casinos in Atlantic City.
Trump has made a habit of cozying up to sports figures, particularly fighters. His enthusiasm for combat sports culminated in a UFC cage fight outside the White House to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary and his own 80th birthday. Trump’s own athletic pursuits, meanwhile, are largely limited to golf.
He has played on 140 of 628 days in his second term as of Friday, or about 22.3 percent of his presidency, according to Trump Golf Track.
Tyson last appeared at a Trump-related political function last month, when he attended the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) summit in Washington. He was also featured in a Super Bowl ad blasting processed food and encouraging Americans to eat “real food.”
The unlikely duo’s friendship has endured decades of controversy, including Trump’s outspoken defense of Tyson following his 1992 rape conviction.
Tyson was convicted of raping 18-year-old beauty-pageant contestant Desiree Washington in his Indianapolis hotel room and was sentenced to six years in prison. He served nearly three years. Trump, at the time, told shock jock Howard Stern that Tyson’s conviction was a “travesty,” and that it was women who “start grabbing” Tyson when he walks into a room.
“I’ve seen women going around touching him,” Trump said. “He walks in a room and the women start grabbing him and grabbing his a-- and grabbing anything else they can grab on him.”
Trump also told New York Magazine that Tyson had told him the teenager “wanted it real bad.”
