The November 2020 fight between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. is still one of the biggest charity fights we have ever seen. That pay-per-view drew almost 1.6 million pay-per-view buys and over $80 million in revenue. Those are some godly numbers that are big by today’s standards as well.
But everyone remembers the match as a fight where Tyson held himself back to not hurt Jones. Moreover, the result of this fight also baffled the fans as Tyson dominated the whole match, but in the end, it was a draw and the 60-year-old boxer seemed happy by that. Well, after four years of that fight, Iron finally opened up about the fact whether he held back or not and why was he happy with the draw.
Did Mike Tyson hold back?
Tyson is going to be part of another exhibition match on November 15 when he will take on Jake Paul at the AT&T Stadium in Texas. The former heavyweight champion was the special guest in the Jimmy Kimmel show and the latter wasted no time in asking about the Roy Jones fight. According to Kimmel, Mike “looked really really good. I think you were holding back, and I feel like the results were predetermined.” He was adamant that Tyson dominated the whole fight and it should not have been a draw.
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According to Tyson, even though the fight was not pre-determined, he did not agree with the result. “No, I believe it wasn’t a draw, but I was happy with a draw,” but was happy nonetheless, as he respected and liked Jones Jr. a lot.
Well, firstly, as Jones vs Tyson was an exhibition fight, the result was supposed to be a draw, regardless. Secondly, a few weeks ago, Tyson’s former sparring partner Joe Egan stated that Tyson was holding back against Jones as he issued a warning to Paul. According to Egan, Mike knew he could hurt Jones with his punches. “Anybody that Mike hits is going to hurt, probably a knockout as well. But he carried Roy Jones, he showed that man the respect and carried him… Jake Paul boxed on the undercard and I think when he saw Mike pull his punches, they probably felt confident,” as he predicted the upcoming clash as a glorified sparring session for Nevada residents.
Well, Egan was not the only one who warned Jake Paul about the upcoming fight. Roy Jones Jr. himself expressed fear for Paul and predicted that Tyson would be a problem for the YouTuber-turned-boxer.
“A Pitbull Dog” let loose upon Paul
While the whole world is worried about Tyson’s health because of his health and recent scares, Jones Jr. thinks otherwise. As a person who has faced the 5’10 feet boxer after his retirement, he knows how scary Tyson can be. And he knows that the 50-6 boxer is going to have a field day against Paul.
According to Jones Jr., Tyson does not know how to hold back and if he gets into good shape, it will be a walk in the park for the latter. “They can label [the fight] whatever they want to. Mike [doesn’t] know how to hold back. Mike’s like a Pitbull dog. Pitbull dogs don’t know how to play. It’s going to turn [into] a fight either way,” stated Jones while issuing a direct warning to 27-year-olds.