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 will put his WBC heavyweight title belt on the line against Dutch kickboxer Rico Verhoeven on May 23 at Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza, Ring Magazine announced on Friday.
The Ukrainian three-times undisputed champion holds the IBF, WBA and WBC titles after vacating the WBO belt.
The 39-year-old has not boxed since beating Britain’s Daniel Dubois at London’s Wembley Stadium last July.
“I respect his (Verhoeven’s) journey – he’s truly the ‘King of Kickboxing’. But this is boxing – a different game, with its own rules and its own kings,” said Usyk, who has a 24-0 record.
“I’m ready and looking forward to meeting him in the ring. It’s going to be a unique experience for both of us, and I know the fans are excited too. A big night is coming.”
The ‘Glory in Giza’ fight will be streamed live on DAZN.
“I spent 12 years as the undisputed heavyweight kickboxing champion and accomplished everything I set out to accomplish,” Verhoeven, 36, told The Ring.
“But staying at the top for that long didn’t take away from the hunger; it strengthened it. Usyk is the undisputed champion in boxing. That’s the kind of challenge that motivated me. Undisputed versus undisputed.”
Verhoeven has sparred in the past with former champion Tyson Fury and had one professional bout in 2014, which he won by a knockout.
-Reuters
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Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will face off in a professional rematch at the Sphere in Las Vegas in September, with the bout streaming globally on Netflix, the fighters and promoters announced on Monday.
The fight marks Mayweather’s return from retirement and will be the first professional boxing match held at the Sphere.
Mayweather, who holds a perfect 50-0 record with 27 knockouts, defeated Pacquiao in their 2015 encounter dubbed the “Fight of the Century.”
That bout generated a record 4.6 million pay-per-view buys and a $72 million live gate at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“I already fought and beat Manny once. This time will be the same result,” Mayweather said in a statement.
Pacquiao, whose record stands at 62-8-3 with 39 knockouts, expressed confidence he would hand Mayweather his first professional loss.
“I want Floyd to live with the one loss on his professional record and always remember who gave it to him,” the Filipino fighter said.
The rematch will stream to Netflix’s more than 325 million subscribers worldwide, continuing the platform’s push into live boxing.
The streaming platform has recently broadcast several high-profile fights, including Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson, which the company said drew 108 million live global viewers
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Former multi-weight world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather will come out of retirement this year for his first official fight in nearly a decade, his new promotion CSI Sports/Fight Sports said on Friday, though his opponent has yet to be decided.
Before his official return, Mayweather is set for an exhibition bout with fellow boxing great Mike Tyson, with the date and venue still to be announced.
“I still have what it takes to set more records in the sport of boxing – from my upcoming Mike Tyson event to my next professional fight afterwards – no one will generate a bigger gate, have a larger global broadcast audience and generate more money with each event – than my events,” Mayweather, 48, said in a statement on his new promotion’s website.
It will mark the American’s fourth comeback from retirement, following previous exits in 2007, 2015 and 2017 — the last after beating Conor McGregor to extend his record to 50-0. He has, however, fought several exhibitions since.
Across a three-decade career, Mayweather defeated many of his era’s top fighters and headlined the three highest‑grossing bouts in history, against Manny Pacquiao, McGregor and Canelo Alvarez.
-Reuters
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