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Mike Tyson Will Vote For The First Time In 2020

By Michael Bamidele
24 September 2020   |   7:29 am
Mike Tyson has never exercised his voting rights and will be doing so for the first time in the 2020 US presidential election. The former professional boxer on Tuesday revealed on Twitter that he will be voting in the upcoming election after spending years thinking he was unable to participate. "This election will be my…

BURBANK, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 18: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO COMMERCIAL USE) Mike Tyson arrives at the 2019 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards Presented by Capital One at the iHeartRadio Theater LA on January 18, 2019 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

Mike Tyson has never exercised his voting rights and will be doing so for the first time in the 2020 US presidential election.

The former professional boxer on Tuesday revealed on Twitter that he will be voting in the upcoming election after spending years thinking he was unable to participate.

“This election will be my 1st time voting,” the 54-year-old wrote. “I never thought I could because of my felony record.”

“I’m proud to finally vote,” he added.

The athlete announced the news alongside a link to register to vote and the hashtag “#NationalVoterRegistrationDay.”

In 1992, Mike Tyson was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison. He was charged with one count of rape and two counts of deviant sexual conduct. He was sentenced to six years in prison along with four years of probation, however, he was released after three years.

Many state laws throughout the US rule felons ineligible to vote, CNN reported. This is why Tyson was unable to vote in previous elections.

But a new law that took effect in his home state of Nevada in 2019 now allows him to cast his ballot.

Under the law (Assembly Bill 431), any Nevada resident who is convicted of a felony is immediately restored their right to vote upon the individual’s release from prison, according to information on the state’s website, PEOPLE reported.

Mike Tyson | Image: Getty Images

The former world heavyweight champion is set to make a sensational return to the ring in California against fellow boxing legend, Roy Jones Jr., on Nov. 28 after it was rescheduled from its initial date in September. The eight-round exhibition fight will be his first in 15 years after his last fight.

Mike Tyson competed from 1985 to 2005. He reigned as the undisputed world heavyweight champion and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win a heavyweight title, at 20 years, four months, and 22 days old. He was the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, and the only heavyweight to successively unify them.

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