George Foreman thinks a Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. fight will be a lot of fun, but he’s expressing some concerns.
Tyson and Jones Jr. are coming out of retirement to fight against each other in an eight-round exhibition bout Sept. 12. While Foreman is excited to see the two 50-plus-year-olds fight, he is worried about their health.
To squash any potential rumors, George Foreman, the 71-year-old former heavyweight boxing champion, isn’t coming out of retirement.
Foreman is a two-time heavyweight boxing champion whose boxing career spanned 28 years. Like Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr., Foreman retired from the sport and made a comeback. He left boxing to become an ordained Christian minister.
Ten years later, he made a return to the boxing ring.
Foreman made his professional debut in 1969 when he knocked out Donald Waldhelm in three rounds. His win over Waldhelm began a streak of 40 straight victories.
Foreman didn’t lose a professional fight for the first five years of his career. His first defeat was suffered on Oct. 29, 1974, at the hands of Muhammad Ali.
Foreman fought 81 professional fights. He won 76 of them, 68 coming via knockout. Twenty of his fights came after the age of 40. He went 17-3 in those fights, losing to Evander Holyfield, Tommy Morrison, and Shannon Briggs.
The Mike Tyson comeback that everyone was talking about and looking forward to seeing will be happening. The two agreed to an eight-round exhibition match that will be taking place Sept. 12.
Tyson is 54 years old, but has been shown working out and appears to still be in great shape. Jones is 51 years old and finished his pro boxing career with a 66-9 record.
“I’ve been trying to enjoy retirement, but people don’t seem to want to let me retire,” Jones said to ESPN. “They keep calling me, telling me that Mike wants to come back and that you’d be a great opponent for Mike.
“We always wanted to see it, but I would’ve preferred it back then. Tyson is a hell of a specimen still. Still a problem to deal with. But at the same time, life is life, you only live once. You want to know what it’s like, you go in there and see. You still gotta see it.”
Tyson said he’s getting back into the ring simply because he can. “It’s because I can do it,” he said in the ESPN article.
“And I believe other people believe they can do it too,” Tyson said. “Just because we are 54, it doesn’t mean that we have to start a new career and our lives are totally over. Not when you feel as beautiful as I do, and I’m sure that other people feel the same way.”
In an interview with TMZ Sports, former heavyweight champion George Foremansaid boxing in your 50s isn’t the same as boxing in your 20s. He knows a little bit about comebacks.
“In my younger days, you get hit in the head, you shake it off and you come back,” Foreman said. “Whereas, when you get older and you get hit, it stays there for a month. You shake it off and the next time, it stays there for a year.”
Foreman said he’s looking forward to see the two fight, but is hoping it doesn’t turn ugly. “It’s gotta be a fun thing and I hope one does not hit the other,” he said. Foreman said he is genuinely worried for their safety.
“They just don’t know,” he said. “They just don’t know. I used to have a baby lion and a baby tiger. And my friend would get in a cage with about a dozen tigers and one lion.
“I went in the cage and was playing with them. When I came out one friend said, ‘Boy, George you sure are brave’ and another said, ‘George just don’t know.’ Boy, you don’t know until they hit you. Strange things happen to you after years go by.”
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