AS crazy as it sounds, rubberneckers around the world will have to pay to watch a 54-year-old Mike Tyson and a 51-year-old Roy Jones Jnr go through the motions in an eight-round exhibition bout in Los Angeles on September 12.
Though there will be no crowd in attendance due to the current pandemic, the exhibition bout between Tyson and Jones will be shown live on streaming platform Triller and will, according to The Athletic, be available to purchase for a fee of $49.99 (£39).
With this news, we have a better idea why two 50-something retired former champions seem to desperate to return to the ring and can say with certainty that it has very little to do with proving a point, scratching some competitive itch, or simply because they miss doing the thing that has defined them. No, in pricing an exhibition like this, it is clear now that Tyson and Jones Jnr have seen an opportunity to use their names to make money while demonstrating to a crowd who know no better what it was they both used to do.
Better yet, given the nightmare nature of 2020, the Tyson and Jones link-up has become both weirdly fitting and perhaps the tonic some boxing fans will be looking for once they realise the big fights they hoped to see this year are being persevered for when the crowds return and money is available.
A freak show fight for a freaky year, Tyson vs. Jones Jnr, despite its ludicrous price tag, might just have come at the right time.
