Boxing virtuoso Mike Tyson made a historic comeback to the ring on 28th November last year in an eight round exhibition fight against Roy Jones Jr that took place at the Staples Center.
The former heavyweight champion of the world made his much-anticipated return fifteen years after retiring from the sport. The exhibition bout garnered a gargantuan attention among the combat sports fandom, clocking 1.6 million PPV sales.
The eight round fight ended in a split draw, as the three judges- Chad Dawson, Christy Martin and Vinny Pazienza scored 76–76 draw, 79–73 for Tyson, and 76–80 for Jones respectively.
Mike Tyson reveals he planned to go the distance against Jones
In a recent episode of his Hotboxin’ podcast, Mike Tyson claimed that he was feeling better than what he expected after stepping inside the squared circle after such a long time.
“I felt better than I anticipated,” Tyson shared his in-ring experience during the sparring contest against Jones, “I thought I would be a little more nervous than I was, but I was relaxed. I felt like ‘wow’ – I could do some more, I could punch more combinations, I could do this and do that.“
Iron Mike also revealed that it was his plan to take the fight to the distance and to hold back against Jones, because he didn’t want to go all out in the fight.
“I said ‘wow, this is interesting’ and I want to do it again and I want to do it against someone I could go all out on. It made me interested in wanting to do it again,” the 54-year-old went on, “I wanted to go the distance, I didn’t want to knock anybody out, that’s what people expected, but I wanted to go the distance.”
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Remarkably, Mike Tyson may have his desire to “go all out” in his next fight of this year, which is speculated to be against his former nemesis- Evander Holyfield.
In his professional boxing career spanning across two decades, Tyson has succumbed to only a few, and Evander Holyfield probably caused the most humiliation to the former heavyweight icon.
Tyson faced “The Real Deal” twice, first in November 1996 when he lost his WBA title via an 11th round TKO, and in the rematch in June 1997, Tyson was disqualified at the end of the third round after biting both of Holyfield’s ears, even removing a piece of his right ear.
Now, a trilogy fight to pit the former adversaries against each other has come to limelight, with Holyfield himself recently stating that the fight must take place, but claimed his team only received excuses from Tyson’s end.
“There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t make it happen. No more excuses. This is the fight that must happen for both our legacies,” Holyfield told Give Me Sport on Monday, “sign the contract and get in the ring, Tyson. The world is waiting and it’s on you now. I’m ready.”
If the trilogy fight indeed takes place this year, it would fulfill the desire of both boxers- Holyfield can have his challenge answered, and Tyson can avenge his losses, and also, “go all out”.
