Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. stepped into a ring to square off as two boxing legends battling it out on November 28, 2020.
The biggest buzzkill of that entire sentence is the “2020” attached to it.
2020 should have been 2000 (or some time around it) when both fighters were in their 30s instead of their 50s.
We would be talking about boxing’s biggest name at the time in Tyson fighting against the widely regarded No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer in Jones.
Tyson was known as “baddest man on the planet” for his devastating knockout power and ability to end fights within seconds. The former undisputed heavyweight champion is a household name known around the world.
Jones was known as the best pound-for-pound boxer for his athleticism, quick reflexes and overall skill. The former four-division champion is the only boxer in history to start his career as a junior middleweight and win a heavyweight title.
A fight in the year 2000 had the makings of a spectacle to be watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world — Jones at age 31 and Tyson at 34, still somewhat in their primes.
Jones was named the Boxing Writers Association of America’s Fighter of the Decade in the 1990s.
Tyson would be known as the most popular and scariest fighter on Earth.
That’s a match made in heaven.
Unfortunately, the timing never lined up even in 2003 when Jones moved up to win a heavyweight title at the age of 34. Tyson was then a 37-year-old coming off a knockout loss to Lennox Lewis.
Instead, we got an abbreviated version of what could have been — added with 20 years of age and seemingly 20 pounds of fat from each fighter.
In the wild year of 2020, it seemed to have garnered positive reception considering it was two old men in eight two-minute rounds that resulted in a questionable draw.
Whether the public liked what they saw last Saturday night, it was the most talked about event that evening. Millions of people tuned into the event, including the undercard.
Perhaps, the undercard of Nate Robinson against Jake Paul received just as much, if not more, buzz as the main event.
The memes were piling up at Robinson’s expense as the former three-time NBA slam dunk champion was put to sleep by Paul’s right hand.
Either way, whoever tuned in the fight primarily wanted to see what Tyson and Jones would bring to the table.
In a fanless Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Triller broadcast was in charge of bringing the fight to fans watching from home.
The best move Triller could have made was adding Snoop Dogg to the broadcast booth.
The fight was significantly more entertaining with his commentary.
The rapper made folks laugh with comments like “two of my uncles fighting at the barbeque” in reference to the physique of Tyson and Jones.
The sports world had its fun on Twitter applauding Snoop’s performance on the mic.
When two fighters are in their 50s, constant hard-pressing action was expected to be at a premium.
Snoop’s commentary masked whatever deficiencies the fight had in terms of its action.
Jones looked far less in shape than Tyson as he would hold on and clinch whenever he would need to catch his breath, which was often. Tyson was far more active in landing his punches as he outlanded Jones in all eight rounds.
Tyson said on Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s podcast “DangerTalk” he trained intensely for this fight and disciplined himself to lose around 100 pounds.
Jones, most notably in rounds two and four, landed either one jab or straight right hand cleanly about once per round. However, in most fights, landing the one clean shot isn’t usually enough to win a round.
Jones was clearly gassed from the second half of the fight on but refused to back down.
All things considered, it was an entertaining night the two legends provided.
Tyson was declared the winner on social media, but the official result was a draw with scorecards of 76-76, 79-73 for Tyson and 80-76 for Jones.
“Everything hurts,” Jones said in a post-fight interview with Jim Gray.
That sounds about right after fighting Tyson.
“You took it,” Tyson said to Jones as Gray was interviewing the two. “I respect that.”
Perhaps, if this fight did happen 20 years ago, we still could’ve gotten a draw (but minus Snoop calling the action) if they fought at or near their primes.
We’ll never know.
