TYSON FOR TRUMP Former US heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson will be one of the sports stars in attendance at Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington on Monday. Picture: Timothy A. Clary/ AFP
Image: TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP
With Donald Trump set to be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States on Monday, a number of high profile sports celebrities will be in attendance for the event in Washington.
Chief among those is former UFC champion Conor McGregor. The 36-year-old has not featured in UFC for the last three years, but is considered one of the legends of the combat sport.
While the Irishman McGregor had voiced his support of Trump in the past, in August last year the businessman said Khabib Nurmagomedov was his actually favourite fighter. Following his comments, McGregor said his earlier support of Trump was a ‘misstep’.
The apparent friction between the two, however, does not seem to be an issue with McGregor expected to attend the ceremony.
Heavyweight boxing legends Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield will also be in attendance.
Tyson and Holyfield had a famous rivalry during the 1990s as the two headline acts in the ring and attracted audiences on a global scale. The most famous incident between the pair came when Tyson bit a piece of Holyfield’s ear off during a fight in 1997.
Of course, Tyson is more recently associated with Jake Paul who will also be attending the inauguration. Paul is more well known as a highly successful YouTuber before he turned to professional boxing.
Paul fought Tyson in a made for streaming bout on Netflix last year. Though the 27-year-old Paul triumphed over Tyson who is 31 years his senior, the fight itself was far from entertaining with the bout labelled ‘underwhelming’ by the majority of viewers and boxing fans.
American football players Brian Urlacher, Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown are also expected to attend.