Mike Tyson fever is sweeping the nation after the 54-year-old boxer faced off with Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition bout on Saturday night. As evidence of Tyson taking over every conversation, some people are heading to eBay with hopes of making some quick cash selling their Tyson merch. Listings for the Nintendo Entertainment System classic, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! are surfacing with increasing frequency.
There are many listings on eBay for Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, ranging from 99 cents up to more than $100. Several of these lots promise that the game works perfectly and that the NES cartridge is in perfect condition despite being more than 30 years old. One item on the auction site is still in shrink wrap and bears a description of “Brand New” from the seller. The current bid as of Tuesday afternoon is $620.
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Originally released in 1987, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! featured a diminutive boxer known as Little Mac, who has championship aspirations. To capture the title, Little Mac must work his way up through the World Video Boxing Association ranks. He has to defeat such opponents as Glass Joe, Von Kaiser, King Hippo and Soda Popinski to reach Tyson. Although later versions featured a stand-in known as Mr. Dream due to expiring licenses.
Fighting consists of dodging at the right time, blocking punches and throwing perfectly-timed jabs or uppercuts to whittle down the health bars of each opponent. Little Mac can take a few hits from the various opponents on the lower tiers, but Tyson poses a different challenge. The heavyweight’s power is so overwhelming that a single hit can lead to defeat.
Tyson was one of the most powerful boxers during his career, to the point that he knocked out 44 opponents. Thrillist actually tried to calculate Tyson’s punches’ power and determined that he could generate an estimated 1,420 pounds of force in the ring, which the outlet based off of fellow boxer Frank Bruno. Thrillist said that taking a punch from Tyson was equivalent to being run over by Simon Cowell on a Vespa at nine miles per hour.
Jones spoke about this power after he went eight rounds with Tyson on Saturday night. He told USA Today that he was still sore after the fight and that the hits took a toll on his body. He explained that Tyson still had the power and could do anything he wanted in the ring.
“My jaw still is sore,” Jones said. “He’s capable of fighting anybody because, truthfully, people are going to have problems getting out of the first couple rounds with him. That was the hardest part, getting past the first two, three rounds.”
