When Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. announced they would be facing each other, some people thought it would be an actual boxing match. However, the head of the California State Athletic Commission, Andy Foster, made it clear that the eight-round exhibition won't be treated like a real fight and will be contested with 12-ounce gloves, no headgear, and two-minute rounds instead of three.
"This isn't a situation where they're going out there to try to take each other's heads off," Foster told Yahoo Sports in July. "They're just going to be in there moving around the ring and letting fans see these legends."
Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) and Jones (66-9, 47 KOs) held a virtual press conference ahead of their Nov. 28 clash that will now take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. At times, the presser got a little bit out of hand, especially when Jake Paul, who was at a hospital claiming that he punched his hand through a car, kept interrupting his opponent Nate Robinson and making vile comments. When Tyson and Jones were speaking, there were times you could audibly hear people who weren't scheduled to part of the call making remarks.
But the talk turned serious when the conversation turned to Foster's comments a few months back. Tyson got upset that Foster would call it anything but a real fight between the former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and the former four-division world champion.
"Listen, I do not know what you're talking about," Tyson said. "What's not a real fight? You got Mike Tyson and Roy Jones. I'm coming to fight, and I hope he's coming to fight. That's all you need to know."
The former pound-for-pound echoed Tyson's sentiments but sounded more perturbed about it than his opponent.
"First of all, if you think you are going into the ring with Mike Tyson, the last guy that did an 'exhibition' with Mike got dropped in the first round," Jones exclaimed. "If you don't know that, then something is wrong with you. Who goes into the ring the great, legendary Mike Tyson and think, 'Oh, this is going to be an exhibition'? 12-ounce gloves? No headgear? Really? This is an exhibition? Come on, man. Be for real'."
Regardless of what Foster had to say, Tyson made it clear that he's going in with the same game plan he's always had whenever the 54-year-old stepped inside the ring.
"My objective is to go in there with the best intentions of my life and disable my opponent," Tyson said.