LAS VEGAS — When Mike Tyson was developing as a young fighter in New York in 1980s, he had plenty of chances to test the skills that would one day make him the world’s best and fiercest heavyweight.

Now Tyson looks at the state of boxing in the United States and doesn’t like what he sees. The title of heavyweight champion has gone from among the most prestigious in sports to one that’s nearly anonymous.

That’s what drove the 59-year-old Hall-of-Famer to help launch the Mike Tyson Invitational on March 12-14 in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas. Tyson’s team sought out the nation’s top amateur boxers to give them this forum to go against each other with the long-range goal of elevating boxing to where it used to stand as a conversation-driving sport.

“I was watching some of the amateur fights and I was wondering, ‘We don’t have enough boxing clubs,'” Tyson said Friday. “Before, when I was fighting, we could fight at the Ohio state fair. Then I’d go to Colorado the next two weeks and fight in the national tournament. That’s what we need to be able to compete with the other countries. We need more competition.”

He is particularly concerned about boxing’s future in the Olympics. Until the International Olympic Committee announced last March that boxing would be included in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, there was doubt whether the sport’s longtime presence in the quadrennial event would end.

“Boxing is dying, and that is what’s driving me,” Tyson said. “If I can be involved in any way in the uplifting and development of boxing, I’ll be happy with that.”