A four-weight world champion, Roy Jones Jr. is a legend of the boxing world. He remains the only boxer in history to begin his career at middleweight and win a heavyweight title. Renowned for his technical ability, he was a savage during his heyday and only retired in 2018.
But he’s going to fight again. The world was stunned after the news broke that Jones will fight Mike Tyson in an exhibition match on September 12. The two men will wear 12-ounce gloves and fight for eight rounds. Furthermore, this will have no effect on their official records.
However, Jones is already looking past Tyson. He wants to fight his friend Anderson Silva. He has trained with the Brazilian MMA legend in the past and is ready to do battle in the boxing ring. Who do you think would win that fight?
Legends
Silva was constantly linked to a boxing match against Jones during his heyday. However, it obviously never came about. Both men are long past their best now, but there would be interest in it if it came to fruition. Jones told MMA Fighting:
“People have been talking about Roy Jones Jr. vs. Anderson Silva in a boxing match for years, even before the McGregor-Mayweather fight happened. We were supposed to happen first. And, unlike that fight, Anderson has professional boxing experience. McGregor didn’t. So, this is much more of a competitive fight, especially with us being older. Now, because he has experience it is much easier for him to survive.”
“He doesn’t have to deal with the young tiger Roy Jones. He gets to deal with the older Roy Jones where he may have a chance to deal with because I’m much older than what I once was. But, that still is a big event and it would’ve been a big event if it happened back then. As Mike shows you now, never say never, the opportunity may come now.”
Respect
“He is a great friend of mine, he’s a good person. Doesn’t speak good English but he always wanted to make a fight with me, they just never allowed him the opportunity to do it, or they never had the right time to do it,” he said.
“We both gave our words that if we ever got the opportunity, we would. If the opportunity comes along, I’m sure that maybe one of the other fights I entertain. I did give him my word that if the opportunity came, I would. So if I’m healthy and cool after this fight, he could get it.”
Dangerous
However, looking past Tyson is a dangerous game. Jones has fought more recently but there is a fire inside of ‘Iron Mike’ that makes him one of the most intimidating men to walk the earth.
“No different,” Jones told MMA Junkie. “I mean, the first three rounds, he’s gonna be dangerous. He was like that in his prime. He’s like that now. He’s a guy that can knock you out from Round One to Round 12, so in the eighth round, he’ll still be dangerous. But if you can get the fatigue factor to set in, then you got a better chance. So for me, I got to try and work off the second half of the fight more so than I work off the first half.
“Mike knows one way: kill. That’s all he knows. Destruction and destroy. That’s all he understands, so my mindset is I better be ready when I go in between those ropes. One thing my dad’s taught me, he said, ‘If you’re going to kill a fly, you kill a fly with an ax, not a fly swatter.’”
