Tyson will share the cover of EA Sports new Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game, “Fight Night Round 4,” with another former boxing champion, Muhammad Ali, with both appearing in the game as playable characters at the peak of their fighting careers. “Ali was a special champ, and I have the highest respect for him as a person and a fighter,” said Tyson, 43, the undisputed heavyweight champion for more than two years who retired in 2005 after a career marred with controversy. “People always ask me if I think I would have beaten Ali if I had the chance to fight him when we were both in our prime. Now you can figure it out for yourselves. “Fight Night” puts you right in that ring and gives you the gloves to settle the score.” Although “Fight Night Round 4” will feature over 45 of the greatest boxers from the past and present, it's the match-up between Ali and Tyson that has garnered the most attention. “These fighters are going to play to their strengths in this game,” said Mike Mahar, producer of “Fight Night Round 4.” “Tyson is going to come barreling in at Ali throwing big upper cuts. Ali is going to use his speed and his reach to his advantage.” Tyson had a chance to play the game before its June 30 release and he said he didn't have much luck playing as himself, so he choose Joe Frazier and “kicked ass.” In some ways, Tyson's videogame career has mirrored the ups and down in his boxing career and personal life. Nicknamed “Iron Mike,” Tyson was convicted of raping an 18-year-old beauty contest entrant in 1992 and served three years in prison. A comeback bout against Evander Holyfield in 1996 ended in uproar and disqualification after Tyson bit off part of Holyfield's ear. Tyson was featured in Nintendo's best-selling “Mike Tyson Punch-Out” in 1987 on the Nintendo Entertainment System, an early example of a video game endorsed by a professional athlete, which sold well. Nintendo is bringing out a new version of “Punch-Out” to the Wii this March, but it will not include Tyson's character. But Tyson didn't appeared in any of EA Sports' “Fight Night” games that first appeared in 2004 because he signed a deal with game publisher Codemasters to do his own boxing game in 2000. But both “Mike Tyson Boxing” and “Mike Tyson Heavyweight Boxing” ended up being critical and commercial failures, opening the way for Tyson to enter the ring with “Fight Night.” According to The NPD Group, EA has sold nearly 6 million copies of the “Fight Night” games in the United States alone.
