50-something Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr. hungry to fight again

Mike Tyson stepped onto a spotlighted st Friday and weighed in at 220 pounds, ripping off his shirt to reveal a muscled torso that could belong to an athlete of half his 54 years.

former heavyweight champion moved into a COVID-protective glass box and went se-to-se with Roy Jones Jr., once most talented fighter in world. Jones' 210-pound frame was slightly less toned, but still clearly in better condition than most of his fellow 51-year-olds.

se two boxing greats are older, calmer men w, but y're returning to ring Saturday night intending to recapture a moment of ir brilliant past — and y've both worked very hard to make sure y won't be embarrassed in this extraordinary boxing exhibition.

“This is fun part,” said Tyson, who will fight for first time in 15 years. “Everything else to get here was hell.”

ir fight at Staples Center is an eight-round sparring session of sorts. It will have two-minute rounds, official judging and limited violence, although limit depends on wher you're asking California State Athletic Commission or fighters, who both intend to let ir hands go.

“Maybe I don’t kw how to go easy,” Tyson said. “I don’t kw. I don’t want to say wrong thing. I don’t want commission mad at me."

But for Tyson and Jones, this unique pay-per-view show is less of a sporting event and more of a chance for two transcendent athletes to prove is a number — and aging is a choice.

“I don’t look at life as ,” Tyson said. “I look at life as energy. You don’t bring your to table. You bring your energy to table. You don’t go meet people: ‘Hey, I’m Bob. I’m 59.’ You don’t do that."

Tyson still seems surprised by wave of events that carried him back to ring. He admits younger Tyson never would have believed he would be a middle-d husband and far who needed to lose 100 pounds two years ago, because that headstrong kid from Brooklyn had never thought that far ahead.

“I didn’t even think I would live this long,” he said. "I was just so intense, and just took myself so serious.”

Tyson got back into shape at urging of his wife, who got him to start doing 15 minutes a day on treadmill. 15 minutes turned into two hours, and n expanded to biking, running and eventually punching, along with adoption of a vegan diet.

“Never eat anything," he said with a laugh. “Just starve and exercise.”

momentum started when he posted video of a training session on social media early in coronavirus pandemic, and his crisp, powerful punches led to millions of impressions and a subsequent stream of increasingly lucrative comeback offers, along with chance to raise money for charities.

“This is a part of my life that I had pretty much thrown away,” Tyson said. “My last fight, I didn’t have any interest in doing it. I’m interested in doing it w.”

Tyson is referring to his loss to journeyman Kevin McBride in 2005, when he finally wrapped up his singular career in ugly fashion. He became heavyweight champion at 20 and reigned over division for five years, but his epic downfall soured him on sport.

"I want to do it w," Tyson said. “Most of time I was obligated to do it from a contract perspective: ‘If you don’t do this, we’ll take everything you have, and you’ll be back in Brownsville.’ y were blackmailing me. It's a different perspective w.”

While Tyson became an international icon for his brutish, dangerous im and numerous misbehaviors, Jones was widely revered as perhaps most skilled boxer of his generation. Jones was a preternaturally gifted athlete who dominated his weight classes while still pursuing his passion for basketball.

Nate Robinson was a rookie guard for Knicks in 2005 when Jones participated in a full practice with team.

“I was freaking out,” said 36-year-old Robinson, stranger to freakish athletic feats as a three-time winner of NBA Slam Dunk contest at 5-foot-9. “That was one of highlights of my life, to be able to rub shoulders and hoop with one of your favorite boxers.”

Jones fought regularly throughout 2010s, but thought he was finally retired two years ago. When he got an offer to be opponent in Tyson's comeback, Jones couldn't resist chance to fight a legend he never got to meet during a career spent mostly at light heavyweight.

So Jones embarked on his own comeback training regimen.

“It’s been craziest thing you ever could have imagined,” Jones said. “I can’t believe I’m able to maintain my speed at 51 years old. I’m still faster than 95% of boxing world, and it shocks me. aches and pains are re because you’re 50, and y’re going to be re matter what you do. You just have to have a mental strength to overcome an adversity.”

Tyson and Jones are returning to a new world of boxing fandom and consumption. This show is being promoted by Triller, a video-making app and social media platform, with a fight-night show featuring performances by several rappers, a surprisingly solid undercard and a co-main event pitting Robinson in his professional boxing debut against YouTube star Jake Paul.

Robinson and Paul both seem appropriately awed by circumstances of ir bout.

“You've got to remember, I’m 23, and this is first time that people my will be able to experience a Mike Tyson fight live,” Paul said. ”I can't believe I'm a part of it."

Neir Tyson r Jones is likely done with boxing after this show. Jones said he hopes to fight mixed martial arts legend Anderson Silva next “if this one goes well,” while Tyson will go wherever this strange trip takes him next.

“Me being here is already a success,” Tyson said. “Me just existing as a human being is a success.”

Im credits: AP