‘IRON’ MIKE TYSON BROOKLYN, NY VS ROY JONES PENSACOLA, FL
TWO of the greatest boxers in history will fight on Saturday night, with at least a couple of enormous caveats. First, it’s an exhibition match – and an ill-defined one at that, with those forking out £19-95 to watch on BT Sports Box Office unsure as to what Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jnr will do – or be allowed to do – to each other. Second, no matter what happens in Los Angeles, it will happen at least a decade-and-a-half too late.
This doesn’t matter to the target audience: Younger fans raised on YouTube highlights and who had not even been born when Tyson and Jones last won at world level; older fans craving a nostalgia hit and who don’t care that Tyson’s beard is even greyer than their own; and casual fans for whom celebrity is more valuable than quality.
Traditionalists scoff, while apologists remind us it’s only an exhibition. No legacies will be harmed in this production. But what of these legacies?
It is pointless to argue who may have won if Tyson and Jones had met in, say, 2003, and Saturday night’s circus won’t provide any clues. It is perhaps worthier to pitch the two men’s careers against each other than to fantasise about a fight that never happened – and, according to the record books, won’t officially have happened in LA.
Rather than wonder who will ‘win’ on Saturday, prefers to judge these two legends on
