In the bizarre year that is 2020, a 54-year-old Mike Tyson stepping back into the boxing ring on U.S. Thanksgiving weekend to take on a 51-year-old Roy Jones Jr., doesn’t really seem all too out of place.
The two boxing greats are set to wind back the clock and square off Saturday night atop a pay-per-view card garnering a fair amount of attention.
Both fighters appear to have taken fight preparations seriously, both look to be in terrific condition given their age, and both have said they’re coming to win.
The California State Athletic Commission on the other hand has said no knockouts are allowed, no official judges will score the contest and no official winner will be declared. OK then.
When asked just three days prior to the fight if he knew all the rules of the match, Tyson told ESPN, “Well, I know that I’m in a fight and that’s all I need to know.”
On Friday evening after the fighters stepped on the scales at the official weigh-ins, Tyson added he’ll be “pitching punches” from the opening moments of round one and the rest is up to how Jones responds.
“I’m coming at him,” a 220.4-pound Tyson said. “He doesn’t have to worry about me. If I’m running anywhere, I’m going to run right at him.”
Both fighters refused to agree to wear headgear but they’ll be wearing 12-ounce gloves instead of 10-ounce gloves typically worn in heavyweight bouts. The fight will be contested over eight two-minute rounds.
Stylistically, shorter round duration should favour a powerful pressure fighter like Tyson, but with all the other variables to consider who knows how it’ll impact the flow of the action. Ultimately this could end up being a fun nostalgia trip, while also having the potential to be an unmitigated disaster.
Since the main event is a spectacle to begin with, the makeup of the undercard is not surprising.
Certain people who dislike fun boxing purists are brushing off the co-main event between Jake Paul and Nate Robinson as a freakshow not worth mentioning, but on a card with a main event that makes little sense, why not roll with the weirdness as well as the punches?
You’ve got a pair of boxing icons headlining the PPV card, a Youtuber and a former NBA star drawing more eyeballs to the event, plus a legitimate top-10 light-heavyweight in Badou Jack looking to show out against an unknown and undefeated Blake McKernan to kick things off.
Bring on the chaos!
In his prime, Jones was truly phenomenal and often regarded as the top pound-for-pound fighter in boxing. He operated on a different frequency than his opponents, with unmatched reflexes and agility that allowed him to set up stinging counter shots. Jones’s highlight reel is something to behold.
Reflexes and agility fade with age, though, whereas power is typically the last thing to go for a fighter – especially for heavyweight knockout artists such as Tyson.
That, along with Tyson’s star power, is presumably why Jones is a +170 underdog heading into the bout. Jones said Friday he makes a lot of mistakes in his life, but taking this fight with Tyson isn’t one of them.
Jones began his career 49-1 (with that lone loss being a disqualification for hitting a opponent after a knockdown) before being knocked out by Antonio Tarver in their 2004 rematch. Jones was never the same after that loss. He was knocked out five times in his career, the last time was in 2015.
If Jones’s chin is an issue and Tyson lands, assuming he still does carry decent power, the night will not end well for the younger man. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith even went so far as to say on Friday he’s worried for Jones and the potential long-term health ramifications if Tyson gets the better of him.
“They said my whole boxing career was a mistake and I love it,” Jones said Friday. “They said I did everything wrong, but it worked out right. So, I can’t tell you how to do it. It’s going to probably look wrong. I know if I try to tell it to you it’s gonna sound wrong, but it’s gonna turn out right. Trust me.”
With all that in mind, here’s a closer look at the main event and how the headliners stack up.
TALE OF THE TAPE
Mike Tyson
Nickname: Iron Mike
From: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Age: 54
Height: five-foot-10
Official weight: 220.4 pounds
Reach: 71 inches
Stance: Orthodox
Professional boxing record: 50-6 (44 knockouts)
Professional rounds boxed: 215
Roy Jones Jr.
Nickname: Superman
From: Pensacola, Fla.
Age: 51
Height: five-foot-11
Official weight: 210 pounds
Reach: 74 inches
Stance: Orthodox
Professional boxing record: 66-9 (with 47 knockout wins)
Professional rounds boxed: 495
Titles, Awards & Accomplishments
TYSON: Was the WBC, WBA, IBF and lineal world heavyweight champion; a two-time Sugar Ray Robinson Award winner for Boxer of the Year in 1987 and 1989; inducted into International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee in 2011.
JONES: Won Olympic silver medal in 1988; won world titles in middleweight, super-middleweight, light-heavyweight, and heavyweight divisions; named Boxing Writers Association of America’s Fighter of the Decade for the 1990s; became acclaimed ringside boxing commentator later in carer and during retirement.
Notable Wins:
TYSON: Trevor Berbick for his first world title; stopped the great Larry Holmes and sent Michael Spinks into retirement in 1988; beat Canadian heavyweight Donovan “Razor” Ruddock twice in a span of less than four months in 1991.
JONES: Topped fellow greats Bernard Hopkins, James Toney and Virgil Hill in the 1990s and then beat John Ruiz and Antonio Tarver in heavyweight title bouts in the early 2000s.
Top PPV Bouts
TYSON: Tyson had seven of his fights draw more than 1.1 million PPV buys. Tyson’s rematch with Evander Holyfield in 1997 – the infamous fight that featured the ear-bite seen ‘round the world – set a record with a reported 1.99 million buys, which stood until 2007’s Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
JONES: While Jones’s skills were lauded by purists and pundits, he didn’t compete in the sport’s marquee divisions and never had near the mainstream box office appeal Tyson did – in fairness, only a handful in combat sports history have. Jones had six of his fights draw more than 300,000 buys. His tilts with John Ruiz and Felix Trinidad each had more than half a million buys.
