The highly-anticipated meeting of two men in their 50s is almost ready to take center stage on Saturday night in Los Angeles. Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. will lace 'em up once again when they square off in the main event of a PPV card from the Staples Center. Though the fight has been deemed an exhibition by the state commission, Tyson, Jones and the promoters of the bout have said both are going in with the intentions of brawling.
Only one sportsbook in the U.S. is offering odds on the bout -- DraftKings -- due to the uncertainty from the commission and promoters as to whether a result will be rendered following the fight. The commission has deemed the bout an exhibition with the expectations of stopping the fight if things get out of control. But it's unclear what will actually take place in the 8 two-minute rounds on Saturday night.
Tyson and Jones will be outfitted with larger gloves (12 ounces) but not required to wear headgear. However, referee Ray Corona will have the final say as to how exciting the action gets depending on the intensity with which both men begin to move and throw punches.
Most fans tuning in will have an interest one way or another in who wins the fight, regardless of whether you can bet on it or not. Because of that, our experts handicapped how they see the action playing out below.
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Fight card
- Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. -- WBC Frontline Championship (8 rounds)
- Jake Paul vs. Nate Robinson -- cruiserweights (6 rounds)
- Badou Jack vs. Blake McKernan -- light heavyweights (8 rounds)
- Jamaine Ortiz vs. Sulaiman Segawa -- lightweights (8 rounds)
Viewing Information
- Date: Nov. 28 | Start time: 9 p.m. ET (main card)
- Location: Staples Center -- Los Angeles
- TV: Traditional PPV providers | Live stream: TysonOnTriller.com or FITE TV | Price: $49.99
Tyson vs. Jones predictions
Brian Campbell: Tyson will likely have one-punch knockout power until the day he dies, which makes "Iron Mike" still a very dangerous challenge for anyone in the opening rounds. But Jones, who should enjoy a legitimate speed advantage, is very much the fresher fighter of the two having stayed active as a professional through 2018 after closing his career on a 12-1 run. Jones has also been operating at cruiserweight in recent years, which means the size disadvantage against an already small heavyweight in Tyson won't be as much of a concern. Provided Jones can survive the early storm, expect him to pick Tyson apart with relative ease as the fight rolls on.
Brent Brookhouse: Predicting a fight like this is an exercise in guesswork. What does a 54-year-old Tyson have at this point? Jones has the edge in being "fresher" off his pro career, but his chin is long gone in being able to take clean power shots from hard punchers, and Tyson is still a power puncher if nothing else. But nobody seems to fully understand the rules of the fight. The commission says it's hard sparring and they'll stop anything beyond that, but the promoters and fighters say it's 100% a "real fight." If they can't actually try to hurt each other, as the commission has said, that would make it a fairly easy fight for Jones as he can use his speed and just pop off easy jabs and combinations and let his speed carry the fight. If they can let their punches fly at full speed and Jones plays around on the ropes like he has a tendency to do, maybe Tyson catches him clean and finishes it off. There's way too many unknowns here to make any sort of meaningful prediction, but the edge would seem to lie with Jones heading into Saturday.
Brandon Wise: Nothing about this "fight" screams excitement to me. But I'm trying to come into this experience with an open mind and low expectations. If these guys are in as good a shape as advertised on social media over the last few weeks and months, then maybe this gets interesting in the opening rounds. But expecting both men in their 50s to carry that through the back half of the fight feels like we could be headed for this getting really sad, really fast. And based on the weigh-in photos, I'm not sure how serious Jones took the training camp. My hope is Jones is able to keep the distance and work as Tyson fades.
