Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr: Is it the biggest fight in 2020?

By Boxing News - 07/31/2020 - Comments

By Gerardo Granados: There many opinions floating around since the announced exhibition fight between boxing legends Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. for next September 12. The battle is an exhibition, so we shouldn´t expect a rubber match to happen. But then why is everyone talking about it? There is already anticipation, and it hasn’t been a single press conference yet.

P.T. Barnum would feel proud to promote the undercard circus fight. Many major boxing media outlets act as part of the promotion team for this fight between two aficionados. But hey, maybe that’s what happens when you are on payroll. As a friend of mine says, integrity doesn’t have a price tag.

I don’t think that the pay per view price for this one is worthy of an exhibition, but the reader is the best judge on how to spend his hard-earned money. If it were a real fight, well then I wouldn’t hesitate to buy it.

Both boxers are old past their best; both should be doing something outside de ring, but also both still feel that they even can fight. Both are Hall of Famers, and boxing history will never forget their names. So why keep on fighting?

Maybe the Valkyries wait for them after the final bell rings. Perhaps the reader has felt the same urgency to fight once more time. But for sure, you know firsthand how it feels when the spark lights the fire that age is supposed to have already extinguished.

I wonder if when the reader was young if you got into more than just a few fights outside the ring. Do you remember that feeling right before you threw the first punch? Do you miss it? Nothing lasts forever, and that is why we must do things while we still can do it.

On times I would like not to have my present adult responsibilities; it would be great to be young again, to be wild and free to do whatever I wanted. But no one lives forever, and as you grow older, you have to mature.

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But for a fighter, it is different; it has always been that way. Professional boxers get paid to risk their health and life to entertain us the fight fans. As I once stated, “boxers box, fighters fight, and we the fight fans want blood.”

A fighter will always be a fighter; I bet the reader understands what I am trying to say. If they said you couldn’t do it, well, it would only encourage you to do it. If you ended up beat up, you would keep it as experience and also as a story to joke with friends. You win some, you lose some, but you never lost the fire.

A lion still is a lion, even if it is an old past prime lion. For a lion, the thirst for blood never leaves.

I will be honest as I am a little concerned about Jones Jr punch resistance. If there are a thing boxers never lose is his punching power, and Tyson was able to hit like a train in his prime. On the other corner boxers often lose reflexes, speed both hand and feet, also the strength and punch resistance diminishes when Kronos touches your soul. Physically Roy isn’t the same he once was fifteen years ago, but the fire still burns in his heart.

I told a friend that if they pass the medicals that they will be cleared to fight. Why would anyone stop them from doing so? I read a comment saying that no one at their age should still be fighting, well you are wrong. There are many reasons to fight again, not only money. But if money was the main reason, then no one can tell another man what he can or cannot do to earn a living.

I would like it to be a real fight, and the truth is that it is an exhibition fight, none the less there´s is no guarantee that things couldn’t heat up once the match starts. There are levels in boxing; both Tyson and Jones Jr are entirely at the same level, so hopefully, everything will be okay when the final bell rings.

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It would be a different story if any of them would try to challenge any of the top ten contenders or the heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

So far, during this insane mandated six months worldwide COVID-19 lockdown, this exhibition bout between Tyson and Jones Jr has taken the boxing world spotlight. Maybe this could mean that the current so-called big names aren’t big but just names; perhaps fighters overpricing themselves out of big fights the boxing fans want are the cause of this fight getting that much attention. But for me so far in 2020, this is the biggest fight. But hey, do the readers agree?