Mike Tyson is looking to inflict some serious damage on Floyd Mayweather when they meet for their planned March exhibition in Africa.

“Floyd wanted to fight me … it looks like he’s going to get knocked out,” Tyson recently told Hard Rock Bet. “It’s going to supersede all the fights and all the glory he had before this. This is taking boxing to a new level. Almost God status.”

Tyson is envisioning a more competitive performance in the clash after having a hard time mounting any serious momentum against Jake Paul in November 2024.

Heading into the Paul pitting, a fight that was officially ruled as a loss on Tyson’s professional record, Tyson survived a scary ulcer flare-up in which he said he “lost lost half my blood” and “almost died.”

“I feel good right now. This is the best I’ve felt. I can’t wait to start getting in the ring. I learned [a lot] from my last fight,” said Tyson.

“I left a lot of my fight in the gym. I worked too hard. I was too intense. I was too extreme. I need to relax more. That’s what I always believe. I need to relax more … I’m getting more and more confident, and I believe I’ll be better in the next fight coming up.”

Tyson, 59, also elaborated if his matchup against the soon-to-be 49-year-old Mayweather is a personal one to settle a beef.

“I don’t know, I think I got a pretty decent relationship with him,” said Tyson. “I don’t hate him. ... I don’t have any harsh feelings.”

In 2015, when Mayweather made bold claims that he was the best boxer of all time, and even greater than Muhammad Ali, the declaration rubbed Tyson the wrong way and he was compelled to connect with a stiff counterpunch.

“He’s very delusional,” Tyson said at the time. “Listen, if he was anywhere near that realm of great as Muhammad Ali, he’d be able to take his kids to school by himself. He can’t take his kids to school by himself, and he’s talking about he’s great? Greatness is not guarding yourself from the people. Greatness is being accepted by the people. He can’t take his kids alone to school by himself. He’s a little scared man. He’s a very small, scared man.”

Now that they’re putting hands on each other in what once seemed as an improbable idea, Tyson is singing somewhat of a different tune toward Mayweather.

“Well, he’s big time, there’s no doubt about it,” said Tyson. “He definitely reigns with the greats, there’s no doubt. He put in his work.”