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The famous heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson is set to face off against Roy Jones Jr. in a September exhibition match.
ESPN first reported the plan for an eight round exhibition match on Sept. 12. The match will be offered on pay-per-view as well as multi-media platform, Triller, which will also feature a ten-part docuseries leading up to the match.
“I. AM. BACK. #legendsonlyleague. September 12th vs @RealRoyJonesJr on #Triller and PPV #frontlinebattle @TysonLeague,” Tyson tweeted Thursday, with a promotional video for the fight.
I. AM. BACK. #legendsonlyleague. September 12th vs @RealRoyJonesJr on #Triller and PPV #frontlinebattle @TysonLeague pic.twitter.com/eksSfdjDzK
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) July 23, 2020
At 54-years-old, Tyson’s last fight was 15 years ago, when he lost to Kevin McBride in six rounds. Recently Tyson put out training videos, leading to speculation he is planning some form of comeback performance.
Last month, Jones, who is 51 and also retired, expressed interest in taking on Tyson.
“I’ve been trying to enjoy retirement, but people don’t seem to want to let me retire,” Jones in comments reported by ESPN. “They keep calling me, telling me that Mike wants to come back, and that you’d be a great opponent for Mike.
“We always wanted to see it, but I would’ve preferred it back then. Tyson is a hell of a specimen still. Still a problem to deal with. But at the same time, life is life, you only live once. You want to know what it’s like, you go in there and see. You still gotta see it.”
In his career, Tyson went 50-6 and was known for his speed and knockout power, having ended 44 matches with a knockout.
In a 1997 match with Evander Holyfield, Tyson became locked up in Holyfield’s clinch at which point Tyson bit Holyfield’s ear off.
Tyson was disqualified for the ear biting incident and, according to Bleacher Report, lost the equivalent of around $100 million in the fallout from the incident from total losses to purse money and an 18-month suspension of his boxing license.
Tyson had his license reinstated in 1999 and continued boxing until 2005.
Jones has also had a formidable boxing career with 66 wins and 9 losses. 47 of Jones’ wins were by knockout. Jones has fought in middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight categories.
