Mike Tyson announced he will not be appearing on PPV service Triller in the future, after his legends exhibition with Roy Jones Jr late last year did strong business for the company.
Tyson is expected to return to the boxing ring some time in 2021, with old rival Evander Holyfield the current favourite to be his next opponent in a non-competitive seniors fight.
However the 54-year-old recently said there were no plans to work with the new arrivals on the combat sports broadcast scene.
“Just to be clear, there is no Tyson with Triller fight,” stated Tyson in a statement. “I don’t know any Triller executives personally. I don’t have a deal with Triller or any head executive representing them for the next event.
“I’m a partner in Legends Only League, and my next event is with my league. I will never do another event or any business with Triller, so anyone misrepresenting that they own the rights to my name or my next event isn’t true. I am not with or ever will be with Triller’s Fight Club.
The announcement will be a blow to Triller's plans to expand their foothold in the industry, having spent a huge sum of money to win purse bids for Teofimo Lopez's defence of the unified lightweight title against George Kambosos.
Many predicted Triller would pair the battle of two undefeated and exciting competitors who haven't yet established themselves as elite box office draws with a mainstream sideshow such as Tyson's next outing or a fight involving YouTubers such as Jake Paul.
Paul was chief support on Tyson vs. Jones, blasting former NBA star Nate Robinson, and boxing's current top star Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez recently expressed his concerns with such fights to Tyson himself on the former undisputed heavyweight champion's Hotboxin' podcast.
“People can do whatever they want in this life,” said Alvarez. “I’m okay with that. People can live the way they want to.
"I can’t control what they do, but they gave the basketball player (Nate Robinson) the license to box. (YouTuber) almost killed him.
“This isn’t a game. You can die in there, you can leave your life in there. That’s the only problem, but people can do whatever they want.”