Mike Tyson is not the only fighter considering a comeback as Enzo Maccarinelli is tempted to return

Enzo Maccarinelli is tempted to return to boxing, just like Mike Tyson, but Sky Sports expert Johnny Nelson has offered words of caution.

In the quiet uncertainty and sometimes tedium of lockdown, heavyweight legend Tyson has set boxing circles astir with news he was contemplating a comeback. He's 53. Thirty years have come and gone since James 'Buster' Douglas destroyed his aura of invincibility and he has been 15 years retired in the wake of three defeats from his final four fights.

What is Tyson thinking? Old fighters trying to defy father time is nothing new. But it rarely ends in a George Foreman fairytale. That was a once-in-a-blue-moon moment.

Former world cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli, 39, gave Sky Sports an insight into the lure of the 'one more fight' mentality this week. He's hitting the bag in lockdown and training hard in his garage, still dreaming of going again under the lights:

"For my mental health, I need this 50th fight. I know I've got something left. I know I'm not going to put a run together. I'm too old for that, I've got too much going on."

Maccarinelli's career record stands at 41-8 and his desire to box is not money motivated. He coaches young fighters and has a property portfolio in South Wales, which provides a measure of security. For him, it's about the half-century.

"I had 50 amateur fights and I won 46. I'd love to finish on 50 pro fights."

Like an ex-smoker being tempted to share a cigarette by a friend's puffing, Maccarinelli's taste for boxing was awoken in helping an active fighter.

"I did a bit of sparring last year. I won't mention any names because I'm not like that. He's highly touted and I hadn't been in a ring for year. Cut a long story short, first round I was awful, second round, things started to come together and third round, I finished it."

So, why didn't Maccarinelli launch a comeback before now? Life delivered some heavy blows to put his plans on the backburner.

"I had a car crash. Then I lost my [step] brother. Everything went to hell. I had a herniated disc, pressing on my right and left leg nerve [from the crash], so I pretty much couldn't walk for a year."

Thanks to Ant Carter, former rugby player and Ospreys physiotherapist Maccarinelli, mercifully, is now able to walk, run and train.

"My running times are improving, my punch output. I'm looking just as fast as I ever have on the bag."

But are gym metrics enough to give a fighter a true sense of capability, or does conditioning disguise the diminishing effects of time?

Once you've had time out to reflect and assess, you think 'I could do that.' But it's our mind playing tricks on us.

Sky Sports expert Nelson, now 53 (seven months younger than Tyson), held the WBO cruiserweight belt before Maccarinelli and also flirted with a comeback a few years ago. But he says, ultimately, the intangible millisecond situations in a contest usually go against the returning veteran.

"It's about the pace, that timing, that light-switch reaction. Once you've had time out to reflect and assess, you think 'I could do that.' But it's our mind playing tricks on us, because when you get in the ring and you come up against a youngster who's not as good as you, technically, but has more pace than you, he will do you every day of the week.

"We've seen Mike Tyson hit the headlines on the pads. And everyone's like 'oh my gosh, he's the don.' We're remembering the good times but we're not remembering the back end of the career when the body didn't switch as quick as it used to. The body didn't react as quick as it used to," Nelson added, referring to the faded Tyson we saw following his defeat to Lennox Lewis in 2002.

It's been 12 years since Maccarinelli lost his world title to David Haye. It's six years since he lost his light-heavyweight challenge to Jurgen Braehmer. It's nearly four years since he last boxed and suffered the eighth knockout loss of his career.

What about the danger of a ninth knockout loss? What about the bleak body of research into chronic traumatic encephalopathy? CTE is linked to taking repeated blows to the head and, according to the NHS website, will 'affect the functioning of the brain and eventually lead to dementia.'

"I have, yes [been knocked out eight times]. If you look at my fights, yes I've been caught. But I've never ever taken a sustained beating. Not once, not in the gym, in sparring either. I've been caught with big shots. Ninety percent of the time, I've been on top, moving into finish. That was my style," Enzo said to calm concern over his health.

Maccarinelli's style was all action. He liked to gamble and usually won - 41 victories with 33 by way of knockout. But could he change it up? Box and move to insure a less risky return?

"No, you know me. I'd be using no boxing ability. I'd go straight in for a slug fest!" he said, laughing.

"If someone can to see me in the gym, they'd see me boxing, up on my toes. No one comes within reach. But something comes over me on fight night. I have to please the crowd. I have to entertain. I see it as an entertainment business."

Given their inactivity, a glittering opponent in a meaningful match seems unlikely for either Maccarinelli or Mike Tyson. But while boxing luminaries like Oscar De La Hoya are fuelling the Iron Mike hype, claiming he could rule the heavyweight world again, the Welshman from Italian fighting stock believes one cruiserweight belt is obtainable.

"One I do see is that (Ilunga) Makabu, the WBC champion. I would fancy that. I really think I could. He's dangerous, but I think he's open. I think I'd be able to catch him."

A title shot in a one-off fight may be unrealistic, but an ex champion's comeback dilemma is complicated by the need for a challenge.

"I wouldn't want my 50th fight to be against a taxi driver or a road sweeper, I'd need someone to frighten me a little," Maccarinelli said, acknowledging the matchmaking problem.

"In my last fight [against Ukrainian Dmytro Kucher], I let myself down. I wasn't focused. I was in the ring thinking of taking my son to football in the morning."

Nelson says that, ultimately, an old champion needs someone sage to tell him he's no longer the same person who scaled the summit. Maccarinelli knows well the adage "a fighter is the last person to know," but maintains he will put his faith in the British Boxing Board of Control to determine his destiny.

As we have seen with the rapturous reception to the video of Tyson's furious flurry of punches, lots of boxing people will encourage champions to return. Perhaps because fans want to recapture their past glories by living vicariously through a greying warrior.

We cannot deny the excitement provoked by the potential second comings of champions like Tyson and Maccarinelli. But the fans and the media are not the ones taking punches to the face. Nelson says we should all bear one inescapable and sobering reality in mind:

"We can't change time."