Boxing great Mike Tyson is on the comeback trail and is expected to fight Roy Jones Jr. later this year in an exhibition bout, but Tyson was also offered an opportunity to face Bob Sapp.
Tyson was open to the fight against Sapp, which would’ve been held under Queensbury rules.
“I was discussing with my wife something about me being overweight,” Tyson said on The Joe Rogan Experience (via Derek Hall of Middle Easy). “And she said ‘Why don’t you just get on the treadmill for 15 minutes a day?’ but then it went from 15 minutes a day, to two hours a day. I just started losing weight, and my brother-in-law said ‘Hey Mike, I know you’re not going to want it but someone asked if you would fight this guy for 30 or 40 million bucks.’ I said ‘Get the fu…woah. Hold on. Who would they like me to fight?’ and (he said) it was Bob Sapp. I’m saying to myself ‘I know Bob, I know he’s big and strong.’ So I asked how they wanted me to fight him, if it would be Queensbury rules. He asked the guy, the guy said yes, and I said I would fight him.”
The Sapp bout wouldn’t come together, but the aforementioned Tyson vs. Jones Jr. fight will happen on November 28. A returning Tyson has put out some training videos ahead of his return, which the fighter says has taken a toll on his body.
“Getting in shape and getting conditioned are two different animals,” Tyson said. “They don’t even belong in the same division of working out. Getting in shape is getting able to fit in your clothes. Being in condition is being able to come outside of your soul. You can’t do that automatically. The emotional state to prepare for that is mind-boggling. Let me tell you something about (the first training video). I did that video and I was in bed for a week. That was 30 seconds and I was in bed for a week. That was not funny because it made me realize that this is big boy s–t.”
Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. is set for Saturday, November 28 from the Dignity Sports Health Park in Carson, California with Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. headlining.
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