WBC judge Christy Martin says Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr could be given up to two minutes to recover if they are knocked down in their exhibition.
Christy Martin in her prime was Don King’s biggest star after Mike Tyson and now she finds herself as a judge appointed by the World Boxing Council for ‘Iron’ Mike in his exhibition bout against Roy Jones Jr.
Martin is thrilled to be involved in some capacity after her aspirations of featuring on the card were taken out of her control.
Christy is unsure if Tyson and Jones will stick to the traditional exhibition rulings as natural instincts can take over and muscle memory from training their whole lives may rule the outcome.
“It’s still being called an exhibition [but] I’m not sure.” Martin told proboxing-fans.com
“It’s a 10-9 scoring, even though I read somewhere that it wasn’t going to be. They’re (the WBC) very serious about it, we’ve had a few zoom calls to make sure everybody’s on board and so that we know how to make everything work as far as scoring remotely. It’s serious for me anyway, as a judge, I’m taking it very seriously.
“Tyson’s talking about fighting other people so I don’t want to be the one who makes a wrong move with this.”
The rules and regulations for this bout seem to be multiplying as the days roll on and the majority of them appear to contradict one another.
One talking point has been the rule of ‘no knockouts’ which is one nobody may have any control over.
“I think anytime you get in the ring there’s a potential for a knockout. It doesn’t matter how old Mike Tyson is, he’s still going to bring the hammers.
“Mike Tyson will still bring big power, big punches. Roy still has fantastic speed. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a knockdown and my understanding is because of the California commission the referee would step in and the fighter has as much time as they need to decide to get going again or maybe the referee will at that point stop the fight.
“It’s not going to be a 10 second knockdown; this could be two minutes to recover and continue on. It’s going to be a little different. I think a lot of people are going to be changing the rules as we move forward. With me, and the WBC and the scoring, we’re set and we know what we’re going to do.“