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'Complete joke': Boxing fans fume over Mike Tyson 'KO clause'

Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr, pictured here since their retirements.
Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr will fight in September. Image: Getty

Fans are ridiculing Mike Tyson’s comeback fight against Roy Jones Jr over reports the boxing greats won’t try to knock each other out.

It was announced on Thursday that Tyson will step back into the ring at the age of 54 to face Jones Jr in an exhibition bout set in September.

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The eight-round match, pitting Tyson against 51-year-old boxing champion Jones Jr, will take place on September 12 starting at 9pm (September 13, 11am AEST).

While boxing fans were initially frothing over the prospect of seeing Tyson and Jones Jr back in the ring after 15 years, the intricate details about the fight left some feeling pretty flat.

According to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports US (who first broke the news on Thursday), Tyson and Jones will be wearing bigger gloves to protect each other and won’t be trying to knock each other out.

“This isn’t a situation where they’re going out there to try to take each other’s heads off,” Andy Foster, the executive director of the California State Athletic Commission, told Iole.

“They’re just going to be in there moving around the ring and letting fans see these legends.”

The fact that Tyson and Jones Jr won’t be trying for KO shots had many fans and pundits up in arms.

Mike Tyson’s comeback after 15 years away

The fight will be available on pay-per-view outlets as well as on music-video app Triller, which has exclusive streaming rights to a 10-part docuseries featuring behind-the-scenes pre-fight footage.

Tyson is the former undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion with a record of 50 wins, six losses, and two no contests.

His most recent official fight was on June 11, 2005, against Irish-born heavyweight Kevin McBride, who defeated Tyson in a TKO.

From 1992-95, Tyson served three years of a six-year term in an Indiana prison after being convicted of rape.

The Tyson-Jones fight is the first event of a series produced under Mike Tyson's new Legends Only League, a sports venture owned by Tyson and Eros Innovations, an investment group affiliated with Eros International.

Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr, pictured here in the prime of their boxing careers.
Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr in their prime. Image: Getty

The three-hour live “Frontline Battle” event, in addition to the main fight, will include what promoters promise will be "significant undercard matches" as well as musical performances.

Tyson launched his boxing career at 20 when he became the youngest boxer to win a heavyweight title, a record he still holds.

Throughout his career, Tyson held the title of Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion from 1987 to 1990 and was also the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles.

Jones, who started out in 1989, has won numerous championships in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight divisions.

In 2003 Jones won the WBA heavyweight title, becoming the first former middleweight champion to win a Heavyweight title in 106 years and has simultaneously held a record seven belts including WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO, NABF, WBF, and IBA light heavyweight championships.

with AAP