Two months ahead of their scheduled head-to-head, boxer Roy Jones Jr. is admitting he may have “made a mistake” when he agreed to fight in an exhibition with former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson.
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According to reports, Jones and Tyson were originally supposed to fight this month, but promoters pushed the exhibition back to attract a larger audience.
Now the duo is set to compete in an unofficial bout on Nov. 28 in Carson, California.
But over the weekend the former four-weight world-champion boxer expressed reservations about the fighting the now 54-year-old former heavyweight champion, who he knows won’t take it easy on him.
“When it comes time to fight, we’re going to fight,” Jones said. “If it comes down to bite, we’re going to bite. Whatever has to happen is going to happen. That’s just what it is.”
He added: “He’s still Mike Tyson. He’s still one of the strongest, most explosive people who ever touched a boxing ring. If anything, I made a mistake going in with him. He’s the bigger guy. He’s the explosive guy.”
“He’s going to have all the first-round fireworks, not me,” the 51-year-old predicted. “I do have first-round fireworks, but he’s known for more first-round fireworks than anybody to ever touch boxing, other than maybe George Foreman.”
“With him having the first-round fireworks, he’ll be against a guy smaller than him, maybe 40-50 pounds smaller than him.”
Considering Tyson’s recent comments about the event, Jones’ concerns may be well deserved.
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“We’re throwing punches at each other. This is going to be my definition of fun … broken eye sockets, broken jaw, broken rib. That’s fun to me,” Tyson recently said during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show.
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