Mike Tyson has revealed he would be happy to step into the ring with either of the top two heavyweights in the world – for charity.
The former undisputed world champion will return to the ring in Los Angeles this Saturday night when he takes on former four-weight world champion Roy Jones Jr in an eight-round exhibition bout over two-minute rounds.
It will be the first time Tyson has fought since being stopped in six rounds by Kevin McBride in 2005.
The 54-year-old says he would welcome the opportunity to conduct exhibition bouts with Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury to raise money for charitable causes.
“I think they’re brilliant. They’re brilliant fighters. They could do so much for society. They could have exhibitions, and take the money from the exhibitions, because they’re such big crowd-pleasers, and they could help so many people,” Tyson told BT Sport.
“There’s so many people out there that we can do so much for, and it wouldn’t even be a tenth of their charitable heart to do something like that. In fact, fight exhibitions with me, and most of our charity would go to people who desperately need it.
“I want you to label them as exhibitions because there’s no hard feelings.
“It has a charity exponent and I look at that as bigger than me. Buying a new car, a new girlfriend, a new mansion, a new plane… that doesn’t do it for me anymore. It just doesn’t work.”
Tyson has vowed to turn this fight into something more than an exhibition.
“Listen, I don’t know what you’re talking about that it’s not a real fight,” Tyson said. “It’s Mike Tyson and Roy Jones and I’m coming to fight and I hope he’s coming to fight. That’s all you need to know.”
And Jones, 51, has said: “First of all, if you think you’re going to get in the ring with Mike Tyson, the last guy to get an ‘exhibition’ with Mike got dropped in the first round. If you don’t know that, there’s something wrong with you.
“Who goes in the ring with the great, legendary Mike Tyson and thinks ‘Oh, this is an exhibition’? 12-ounce gloves? No headgear? Really? This is an exhibition? Come on, bro. Be real.”
George Foreman, who retired from boxing for 10 years before returning to become the oldest heavyweight champion in history, says Tyson has it easier than him for one specific reason.
“He’s coming back in an exhibition with hardly any consequences,” Foreman said to Yahoo Sports. “I wish I could have had the privilege of doing it that way. I came back and they were real fights that meant something.
“I was off for 10 years and then I came back and said, ‘I’m back to become the heavyweight champ of the world again.’ He’s back in an exhibition and he’s not going to have it as difficult.”
As Foreman sees it, Tyson’s biggest challenge will be dealing with the speed of Jones.
“I think that’s going to be an issue for Mike against Roy, because Roy has speed,” he said. “Even at his age he’s going to be faster than Mike, and that’s something when you have been away, it takes a while to get back how to deal with that and be used to it.”
