At the beginning of August 2024, even before the end of the boxing tournament at the Paris Olympics, news spread across the Internet that the former absolute world heavyweight champion had challenged the future winner of the competition. We have verified the accuracy of such messages.
August 3 Telegram channel «Uncle Slava” (195,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) reported: “Mike Tyson is offering to fight an Olympic winner (trans boxer) in boxing and donate the proceeds to a charity for battered women.” According to the TGStat service, at the time of writing this analysis, at least 180 similar publications appeared on Telegram, with a total of more than 820,000 views. For example, this news was reported by the channels “Federation"(62,000 views), "Dissenting opinion"(44,000), "Denazification UA"(42,000), "Russia 2.0"(42,000), "Notes from Zhirinovsky"(29,000), "Tough Russia 18+"(24,000), etc. Similar posts can be found on VKontakte, where, for example, recording in the public POP - MMA received more than 55,000 views. In addition, popular videos on this topic can be found on TikTok (examples here And here).
None of the above publications mention the name of the athlete that Tyson could challenge to fight - and this is logical, because by that time the Olympic boxing tournament had not yet ended. Judging by the mention of the “transboxer,” the authors of the posts are hinting at Algerian Iman Khelif or Taiwanese representative Lin Yuting. The gender of both athletes is widely was discussed in the media, they were called transgender and men. Both Khelif and Lin eventually steel Olympic champions in their weight categories.
The viral posts do not name the source of information about the challenge that Tyson allegedly threw, however, many publications provide a screenshot of the news on an English-language website. This is a note on The People's Voice portal, published August 2 and dedicated mainly to Helif. At the end of the article, it is claimed that Tyson stated that he was ready to fight the future Olympic champion, and all proceeds would be used to help women who suffered from domestic violence. The name of the alleged rival is not mentioned in the text, but the material is illustrated with viral memes and a photograph of an Algerian athlete.
The People's Voice website previously operated under other names: NewsPunch and Your News Wire. In 2018, the Poynter Institute turned on this resource is one of the most active distributors of fakes and conspiracy theories in the English-speaking segment of the Internet. “Checked” also repeatedly refuted false information from this portal. Neither Tyson’s verified social media profiles nor the websites of reputable sports media contain any evidence that the boxer is preparing for a fight with Khelif or any other Olympic champion. The athlete completed his professional career in 2005, but on November 15, 2024 planned his fight with YouTuber boxer Jake Paul.
The primary source of the news about Tyson on The People’s Voice, apparently, was already remote tweet from user with username @Rob1865_, published August 1 at 20:04 Moscow time, marked Breaking News. Judging by description profile, the owner of the page openly supports the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. WITH note Breaking News blogger posts posts in which he often ridiculed democrats and the agenda associated with them (in particular, trans rights).
Because tweet @Rob1865_ got infected (both on its own and in the form of screenshots), agency fact checkers Reuters and project Lead Stories We turned to representatives of the ex-champion for comments. “This is an absolute lie. Mr. Tyson has not yet publicly commented on this situation,” both response emails said.
Thus, Tyson did not challenge any of the winners of the boxing tournament at the Olympic Games in Paris. This was originally posted by social media user X, who apparently intended his tweet as a joke and then deleted it. As for Khelif’s gender, as previously wrote “Verified”, there is no evidence that the athlete has undergone a transgender transition, and statements about the presence of a “male” Y chromosome are currently controversial and based on conflicting data.
In conclusion, we note another unreliable statement on this topic that has spread on social networks. August 4 Telegram channel «Cart Online”(25,000 views) wrote: “The authors of the film “Scary Movie 5” in 2013 looked into the future and predicted events at the Paris Olympics. Mike Tyson does a great job portraying a transgender hero.” The post contains a fragment in which the main character of the film is beaten by boxer Tiffany Stone who looks like Tyson. A similar publication appeared in the channel “Savanichi"(93,000 views), there are similar posts on VKontakte (here And here).
Actually this scene taken from the movie "Scary Movie - 4", which was released in 2006. Uncredited indicatedthat the role of Tiffany Stone was played by actor Michael McDonald. Moreover, the names of the make-up artists who were responsible for giving the artist an external resemblance to Tyson are also named there. Boxer appeared only in "Scary Movie - 5", but in the role of himself.
Cover photo: @MikeTyson (X)
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