Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr sells for $49.99 on PPV, Sept 12th

By Boxing News - 07/28/2020 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose:  Mike Tyson’s eight-round exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr will be selling for a relatively cheap $49.99 on pay-per-view on September 12th. Compared to the average PPV card in Boxing, fans are getting the Tyson vs. Jones fight card for relatively inexpensive.

Jones, 51, says he wants to play around and have fun during the exhibition match, but hf feels that Tyson will have other ideas. If this is the old Mike Tyson from the 80s and 90s, he’s going to go after Jones all out once the bell rings.

Tyson has no choice but to destroy Jones

Jones’ ability to take a punch has diminished since suffering a bad knockout loss to Antonio Tarver in 2004. Ever since that KO loss, Jones has repeatedly suffered knockout defeats when facing opposition that could punch.

Jones has never faced a puncher like Tyson before, and the odds of him being able to handle his power or slim and none. Tyson is in a position where he can’t afford to waltz around the ring for eight rounds if he wants to be able to sell future exhibition matches to the boxing public.

It might not bother Jones if he bores the paying fans, but it’ll hurt Tyson’s ability to continue to sell his fights. That’s Tyson may need to transform himself into Ivan Drago for this fight and look to “break” Jones.

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But it’s also understandable why the Tyson-Jones card is going to a discount. The undercard isn’t correctly staked. YouTuber Jake Paul will be fighting NBA star Nate Robinson in a six-round bout.

For serious boxing fans, they’re not going to like watching a couple of non-boxers in a card involving the legends Tyson and Jones.

Can fans afford $49.99 for Tyson-Jones?

The organizers of the Tyson-Jones card need to add some severe fights involving real boxers on the card so that the fans will want to pay to see this thing. Given all the press about Tyson’s fight with Jones being little more than dance around the ring by the two 50+-year-old fighters, the card needs a couple of good entertaining matches just in case

$49.99 wasn’t a lot of money before the pandemic, but now with so many people unemployed, you can argue that amount is a lot more than a standard PPV. $50 in this economy is $500 when things were going well before the pandemic hit.

So you’ve got to ask yourself a question. Is Tyson vs. Jones worth $500? I’d say few boxing fans will say yes to that, especially when see what they’re getting for undercard with YouTuber Jake Paul fighting Nate Robinson.

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“I’m trying to imagine an NBA game allowing a group of novice basketball players to play before their games. I don’t think it would fly for a second with the NBA.

“I don’t know, it’s hard to say,” said Roy Jones Jr to ESPN when asked who wins the fight between him and Mike Tyson. “Boxing is a strange sport. A lot of times, people say your legs are the first thing that goes, and my legs were a key part of my style and skill level.

“They say that power is the last thing to go, and his [Tyson] power was the key element of his skillset. His power and skill set is still there. My legs are still there, but they’re not what they use to be, so I wouldn’t be mad if they said he’s the favorite, but I wouldn’t agree with that,” said Jones.

Jones: Tyson will revert back to what he is

“So he’s not the person that you can go out and do that,” said Jones. “All he knows is to take your head off. When he comes, he’s going to revert back to what he is, especially if you ever touch him good or hit him with a good combination that he don’t like.

“hen he’s immediately going to become Mike Tyson. He’s probably bipolar or something. So he’s going to flip that switch t some point, and you’re going to have to deal with Mike Tyson.

“And so I already know this. So I’m going to get myself prepared for Mike Tyson for eight rounds if I have to. You’ve got to stay off the ropes, and let the bees sting him a little bit.

Image: Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr sells for $49.99 on PPV, Sept 12th

“Letting the bees sting him is the only chance you’ve got. If you’ve got missiles coming at you, you’ve got to let those bees sting and let him back off me. If you don’t, then we got to do what we got to do,” said Jones Jr.

Tyson has so much punching power that even if he goes easy on Jones, he’s going to hurt him with anything he hits him with. It’s not going to work for Tyson to pull his punches to make a true exhibition match because he hits too hard, and Jones has zero ability to take a punch without nosediving to the canvas.