Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr: Preview, prediction ahead of historic exhibition bout between two of boxing's biggest former names

GBN preview the exhibition contest between legendary heavyweights Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr on Saturday night

One of the widely recognised boxing icons 'Iron' Mike Tyson returns to the ring to face fellow legendary heavyweight Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition contest live on TRILLER globally and on BT Sport Box Office in the UK.

The fight pits together two of the greatest fighters of the modern era in an 8-round bout which has provisionally broken the early PPV purchase record ahead of the historic event.

GBN Editor Ben Davies takes a closer look at the exhibition action and what to expect from Saturday night's event:

Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr- Special WBC belt

The famous 'Iron' Mike Tyson has not fought since 2005 and makes his return to the ring against Roy Jones Jr who fought as recent as 2018 in the final stages of his professional career.

Both incredibly powerful athletes, Both Tyson and Jones Jr have had an incredible career with 'Iron' fighting at heavyweight becoming undisputed champion from 1987-1990 where as Jones spent a large proportion of his 75 fight professional career at light heavyweight where he became undisputed champion.

Although the fighters are many years beyond their top world-class years in the sport, we will no doubt see a small display of the elite speed, movement and boxing intelligence that gave the two fighters their extremely talented reigns in their divisions several years ago.

Largely considered as one of the greatest and most entertaining fighters of all time, the Brooklyn fighter Mike Tyson has proved his greatness throughout his professional career defeating some of the greatest fighters of his generation including Frank Bruno, Michael Spinks and Larry Holmes.

With world class power and upper body strength in addition to supreme conditioning and shot selection, Tyson had it all in the ring in his prime when he fought producing some unique displays throughout his career with some explosive knockouts including a third stoppage of Briton Frank Bruno, and of course the incredible first round stoppage of undefeated Michael Spinks at the time of his heavyweight dominance.

Tyson is also known for being an 'on the edge' character but is idolised by many who have seen him fight in his prime condition, but he seems to be in incredible shape from the promotional clips and open gym sessions that have been conducted in the build-up to the fight, and he has revealed his attitude feels the same as any normal fight and he will go to be victorious.

Several of Tyson's later bouts in his career saw the American lose much stamina and speed as the fight got into the latter stages due to his age and decreasing physical fitness, and fifteen years on we are likely to see tiring slow-tempo phases of his performance, but the excitement to see one of the most populars fighters ever to walk the ring back in shape and ready to do battle with a fellow legendary competitor.

Although the fight takes the status as an exhibition, Tyson will not know the word 'friendly' contest and will no doubt search for an explosive stoppage and continue to be the audience favourite showman that he always was during his hayday dominating the heavyweight division in the late eighties to early nineties.

His opponent Roy Jones Jr similarly carries a huge reputation in the sport, fighting at welterweight and light heavyweight in the past and also reigning as the undisputed light heavyweight champion during his career, in addition to becoming a four-weight world champion, an incredible feat that puts him up with some of the most dominant fighters in recent history.

'RJ' also became the first fighter in history to start out at super middleweight and become heavyweight champion during the middle stages of his career, and his domination was largely down to his incredible hand speed, athleticism and incredible movement making him one of the most agile fighters in recent history at multiple weights.

The 75-fight veteran has dispatched of some top names during his professional career, where he suffered just nine losses, and his resume features Bernard Hopkins, Montell Griffin and Julio Cesar Gonzalez. He also carries a good kncokout ratio of 62% and possessed tremendous natural power similar to his counterpart on Saturday night, which will no doubt be a clash of strength, power and boxing experience.

Styles:

Mike Tyson: Aggressive and rugged, 'Iron' will no doubt use his physical strength, natural power and boxing intelligence to take the initiative and try to bully his lighter opponent in the ring and step on the front foot.

Roy Jones Jr: Posessing a tremendous amount of speed, precision and elite movement, despite his age and physical condition declining, Jones has fought more recently and will no doubt be able to try and box his way out of oncoming onslaughts from the aggressive Tyson, and use his light agile frame to box his way off the ropes.

 

Prediction: Mike Tyson stoppage or No contest

 

Undercard

Youtuber Jake Paul takes on NBA basketball player Nate Robinson in the co-main event of the night in a 6-round cruiserweight contest.

Also on the card, two-time world champion Badou Jack takes on Blake Mckernan in a 8-round contest at light heavyweight.

 

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