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Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. will fight on September 12 in a pay-per-view showdown of the ages.
Tyson holds a career record of 50-6 with 44 knockouts.
Tyson, 54, has been training in recent months with many speculating that the boxer may have an interest in jumping back into the ring.
“I feel unstoppable now,” Tyson told Facebook Gaming recently.
“The gods of war have reawakened me. They’ve ignited my ego and want me to go to war again. … Imagine I went out there and fought. I could help all these people and animals we’re talking about. That’s really what it’s about.”
Tyson is 5-5 in his last 10 fights.
Tyson last stepped into the ring on June 11, 2005, against Irish fighter Kevin McBride at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. Going into the fight, Tyson called McBride a “tomato can,” predicted a victory and promised to, “gut McBride like a fish.” Tyson was ahead on points on the judges’ scorecards through six rounds, however, the former heavyweight champion failed to answer the bell for the seventh round and was ruled defeated by technical knockout.
Prior to his loss to McBride, Tyson took a lengthy hiatus from boxing after being knocked out in the fourth round by Danny Williams in July 2004.
Roy Jones Jr. is 51 and Last Fought in 2018
Roy Jones Jr., 51, has a career boxing record of 66-9. In his last 13 fights, Jones has a record of 12-1.
Boxer Roy Jones Jr. (left) exchanges punches with British boxer Enzo Maccarinelli in 2015. (Getty Images)
Jones last stepped in a boxing ring on February 8, 2018, against Scott Sigmon. Jones won the bout in a unanimous decision in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida. Prior to his fight with Sigmon, Jones fought defeated Bobby Gunn by way of knockout on February 17, 2017. He defeated Rodney Moore and Vyron Phillips in 2016 after suffering his last loss, to Enzo Maccarinelli, in December 2015.
Jones expressed his desire to return to the boxing ring back in the spring.
“I don’t really mess with people too much,” Jones said on Instagram Live. “I don’t like to bother nobody. I’m getting older, I love trying to pass what I know down to these guys so they can take what I did, what I knew, and try to add and build on to it. Chris Eubank, Shady [Gamhour], whole class of them, trying just to pass to them what I know and let them add what I know to what they do.
“But, if people bothering me – and I’ve had a few people bothering me lately. I ain’t gonna say a lot of names, but some pretty strong, big guys trying to bully me around. I don’t like being bullied. I will fight you. I know I’m 51 but I will fight somebody over 50. And I ain’t scared to fight nobody, nowhere, at no time. Headgear, no headgear, I don’t care. So just be aware, and be careful what you say.”
Tyson-Jones Has Long Been Discussed but Never Happened
A Tyson-Jones fight has been a boxing fan’s dream for years. During an interview on the Joe Rogan Podcast last year, ex-world champion Andre Ward shared that Tyson vs. Jones was discussed as far back as 2003.
“There was a Tyson fight on the table,” said Ward. “And I believe I’m accurate when I say this, it was somewhere around $40 million guaranteed. There was an upside, too. You stay at heavyweight, keep the weight on, and Tyson wasn’t quite Tyson at that time. He was still dangerous, but he wasn’t quite Tyson. I think they were working towards it.
“What I heard was Roy wanted more money. Roy somehow said, ‘No, the fight will be there down the road,’ and put his attention to Antonio Tarver, and the rest is history.”
Rapper Fat Joe recently teased a rivalry between the two boxers during a recent interview with Tyson. “Your boy Roy Jones really pulled up on me in the club and he was going to hook-off on me,” Fat Joe told Tyson. “Like he literally came looking for me to ask me, what’s up dissing him in the fight, and I was like, holy Christ, this man ain’t no punk. I had over 100 guys on me, Mike.”
“Jones didn’t know he was about to die,” Tyson told Fat Joe in response. “That’s what they don’t understand sometimes. That’s the real deal, Joe. We get caught up in all these news clippings, that we are invincible and the greatest fighter to have ever lived.”
Tyson/Jones will be on pay-per-view and will also be streamed via Triller.
The undercard and mid-card fights for Tyson/Jones Jr. have not yet been announced but I’m told that Snoop Dogg, a Triller stakeholder, is believed to be performing, as is Post Malone.
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