Soon after news of boxing legend Mike Tyson’s deal with alleged Chinese partners from Fight2Fame rocketed through cyberspace including here at Blockchain News, Tyson denied any token deal on Twitter.
I am not involved with Fight to Fame or their countdown website, nor will I be involved with anything related to Fight to Fame now or in the future. Any media reporting my current involvement isn’t accurate.
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) August 14, 2019
However, there is some controversy, as Tyson did sign a term sheet and even made a promo video for Fight to Fame.
However, as reported at Modernconsensus, Tyson’s wife and manager felt they were tricked:
Lakiha Tyson also revealed that the current mishap is due to an “incautiously signed but very preliminary agreement” with Fight to Fame’s founder Shi Jianxiang, who initially offered Mike Tyson casting in a Hong Kong martial arts film.
In 2018, Shi provided the Tysons with a term sheet briefly outlining a deal between Tyson and the U.S.-China Motion Picture Association (UCMPA) and its strategic partner, MG Pictures, the companies under Shi’s management. The term sheet specified that Tyson would serve as the chair of Fight to Fame and receive a share in the project.
Lakiha Tyson approved the agreement, having amended the clause specifying that as a “partner and co-founder Tyson will cooperate fully with UCMPA,” and hand-wrote “as per agreed in writing at a later date.” She said:
“We had no idea that this was a way to launch this Tyson Token. We didn’t agree to this. I was fuming at this point.”
Cointelligence did an absolutely brilliant deep dive and published an investigative piece on the deal alleging Fight to Fame is a fraud. On Yavin, the founder of Cointelligence linked the company to Jianxiang Shi, a Chinese fugitive who is wanted in connection with a 2016 Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of $5.8 billion according to the Wall Street Journal.
Yavin’s report included a copy of a February 12 cease-and-desist letter sent by Tyson’s attorneys, Lavely & Singer, to Shi and several associates of his Moregain Capital Group.
Ms. Tyson told Modern Consensus:
“It was a very clever and well-played con,” said Mrs. Tyson. “This is why Dr. Shi was able to con people out of $5.8 billion and is a wanted fugitive in China. This entire experience has been a huge wake-up call for me.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: I was actually approached by Fight to Fame at a Blockchain event in Santa Clara as director of Token.Agency and invited to LA to help raise funds for the project. And actually spoke to Jianxiang Shi on a Skype video call from the Netherlands. Fortunately, we did not do a deal. The investigative journalism work from On Yavin, the founder of Cointelligence is something I see rarely in this industry so Kudos to Yavin.
