If you thought Mike Tyson has been putting out training videos on social media just to get some attention, think again.
The 54-year-old Tyson will return to the ring to take on Roy Jones Jr., 51, in an eight-round exhibition on Saturday, Sept. 12, from Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. The match will air on pay-per-view as well as on Triller, a multimedia platform. The fight, which is titled, "Frontline Battle," is the first event of a series produced by Legends Only League, which is owned by Tyson.
According to the executive director of the California State Athletic Commission, Andy Foster, Tyson and Jones won't be wearing headgear, and he thinks both fighters will be wearing 12-ounce gloves.
“This isn’t a situation where they’re going out there to try to take each other’s heads off,” Foster told Yahoo Sports. “They’re just going to be in there moving around the ring and letting fans see these legends.”
Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) won the WBC heavyweight title at the age of 20 when he stopped Trevor Berbick in the second round in November 1986. He went on to take the sweet science by storm, becoming the undisputed champion in 1987 and holding that distinction until 1990 in a stunning upset to James "Buster" Douglas. "Iron Mike" returns to the ring for the first time since a sixth-round stoppage loss to Kevin McBride in June 2005.
Jones (66-9, 47 KOs) is a former four-division world champion who is viewed as one of the most skilled boxers of this generation, winning championships at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. Jones won the latter by moving up two weight classes in March 2003 and dominated John Ruiz to capture the WBA belt and becoming the first former middleweight champion to win a heavyweight title in 106 years. Jones last fought in February 2018, beating Scott Sigmon by unanimous decision.