Boxing
GEORGE FOREMAN RAISES ALARM OVER MIKE TYSON/ROY JONES BOUT
George Foreman has admitted that Mike Tyson‘s return to the boxing ring alongside Roy Jones Jr is a ‘beautiful thing’ but fears for their wellbeing.
Tyson, 54, announced he is coming out of retirement to fight 51-year-old Jones Jr in an eight-round exhibition fight after teasing fans for months over a potential comeback.
Despite being excited for the bout, Foreman revealed that he is worried for both fighters’ health ahead of the September 12 showdown in Los Angeles.
He told TMZ: ‘There’s a time when you gotta worry about your health, but it’s a beautiful thing that they would even come out,’ George says.
‘Maybe they can even name a charity or something for the recipient of the funds. I think it’s good to come out but it’s gotta be a fun thing, but I hope one does not hit the other.’
The fight will be Tyson’s first in 15 years while Jones Jr fought as recently as 2018.
Foreman, who had 81 professional fights in his career and faced greats like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, said he would warn both fighters of the potential risks and how dangerous the lasting effects could be.
‘I would just tell them it’s really dangerous but when you make up your mind to do something like that, you can’t tell them ‘don’t do it.’
‘They’re not gonna hear that. Even me. Big fool like me, back in the day, I only saw what I wanted to see.’
Despite his cautious attitude towards the event, Foreman did admit that he tried to make a comeback himself during his mid-fifties and didn’t hang up his gloves for good until the age of 48.
‘I was 55 years old. I was in shape and everything,’ Foreman said about his aborted comeback.
‘[My wife] says “you’re not going to do anything like that,” I said, ‘I’m telling you, you can’t tell me what to do. I can still – I said “don’t you believe in me? Look at me, I can still do it!”
‘She said, “George, isn’t that the way you want to leave the sport believing that you can still do it?”. I got closure right there and I walked away and it was death to a fighter to realize you’re never going to fight anymore.’
Oleksandr Usyk has declared that Anthony Joshua is back and tipped his new training partner to knock out Tyson Fury following the Briton’s dramatic comeback victory over Kristian Prenga in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
According to a report by Boxing News Online, Joshua survived a disastrous opening round in which he was twice dropped by the massive underdog before recovering spectacularly to stop Prenga in the second round on Saturday.
The victory kept alive the prospect of the long-awaited all-British heavyweight showdown between Joshua and Fury later this year.
Usyk, who defeated Joshua in their two world heavyweight title fights in 2021 and 2022 but now trains alongside the former champion, was impressed by the manner in which Joshua recovered from his early difficulties.
Speaking to talkSPORT, the Ukrainian two-time undisputed champion proclaimed: “AJ is back.”
Usyk described the difficult opening round as a test for Joshua before praising his recovery and decisive second-round response.
He then went further by predicting that Joshua would defeat Fury by knockout if the much-anticipated fight finally takes place.
Usyk, who has frequently referred to Fury by his “Greedy Belly” nickname, dismissed suggestions that Joshua’s two knockdowns against Prenga exposed a vulnerability that Fury could exploit.
Instead, he backed his new stablemate to overcome the former world champion and even suggested Joshua could eventually become undisputed heavyweight champion.
Usyk himself had experienced a scare only two months earlier when kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven pushed him hard in their May contest.
Joshua’s victory means attention can now turn increasingly towards a possible confrontation with Fury.
Fury also returned successfully on Friday, forcing Mariusz Wach to retire after seven rounds in Thailand.
With both British heavyweights now coming through their respective comeback fights, the path appears increasingly clear for one of the biggest contests in British boxing history.
Joshua and Fury have been linked with a fight for years without the contest materialising.
Now, following victories on successive nights, and with Usyk publicly backing Joshua to knock out his long-time rival, the heavyweight division could finally be heading towards the showdown boxing fans have waited years to see.
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Anthony Joshua climbed off the canvas twice in a nightmare opening round before spectacularly knocking out Kristian Prenga in the second round of a heavyweight thriller in Jeddah.
For three astonishing minutes, a major upset appeared to be unfolding.
Albanian knockout specialist Prenga rocked Joshua inside the opening 20 seconds and floored the former two-time world heavyweight champion twice as his heavy right hand repeatedly found its target.
But Joshua survived — and then turned the fight completely on its head.
Prenga surprisingly failed to press his advantage at the start of the second round, allowing Joshua to seize the initiative.
AJ marched forward, landed a thumping one-two and followed with a barrage of heavy punches that sent Prenga crashing in the corner.
This time, there was no recovery. Prenga failed to beat the count.
The dramatic victory marked Joshua’s first fight since the fatal car crash in Nigeria last December that claimed the lives of his close friends and team members Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele.
More significantly for the heavyweight division, Joshua’s victory keeps alive the prospect of the long-awaited all-British blockbuster against Tyson Fury later this year.
Fury had earlier recorded his own comeback victory, stopping Polish veteran Mariusz Wach in Thailand.
With both British heavyweights now back in the win column, a potential November showdown is firmly on the horizon.
Joshua was twice on the floor in the first round. Prenga was finished in the second. What a turnaround!
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Daniel Dubois came back from two knockdowns to deal Fabio Wardley a brutal and bloody first defeat as a professional and take the WBO heavyweight title in a thunderous all-British clash on Saturday.
Referee Howard Foster finally stepped in at the start of the 11th round to signal the end of the fight, with Wardley bleeding heavily from the bridge of the nose and with his right eye almost closed.
Dubois rose twice from the canvas, including being dropped by a right hook in the first 10 seconds of the fight, to pulverise Wardley and become a world heavyweight champion for the second time in his career.
“It was a war. We came through the sticky moments. Thank you, Fabio, for that,” said Dubois, who was previously IBF champion after the belt was vacated by Oleksandr Usyk in 2024, with the Ukrainian winning it back in July 2025.
“What a great fight. What a great battle, man”.
The win was Dubois’s 23rd as a professional in 26 fights, while Wardley now has a 20-1-1 record.
Veteran promoter Frank Warren, who manages both men, said it was the best heavyweight fight he had ever put on and confirmed there was a rematch clause in the contract.
For some viewers, however, it was also an uncomfortable watch that could have been stopped earlier.
The 31-year-old Wardley, who was promoted to WBO champion last November after Usyk vacated the title, was making his first defence and showed immense heart as he took a tremendous beating yet refused to capitulate.
He had his opponent on the floor, a blow Dubois, 28, later dismissed as a ‘flash knockdown’, almost with the opening bell still sounding.
Dubois was back on one knee in round three but came close to a stoppage in the sixth with the reigning champion bleeding heavily and on the ropes.
The Londoner continued to land blow after blow on Wardley, who wobbled but refused to give up.
His corner inspected the facial wounds after the eighth, and doctors and the referee took a look in rounds nine and 10, but still the fight continued, with Wardley increasingly struggling to stay on his feet and fighting on instinct.
“You witnessed something special tonight,” Warren told the BBC. “Two men baring their hearts and souls in the ring gave everything, didn’t leave one bit outside the ring.
“They were getting hit with bombs that would take people out, and they stood it.”
-Reuters
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