This is Rummy’s Corner.
Back in February in the lead up to the highly anticipated rematch between Deontay Wilder
and Tyson Fury, I remember being pleasantly surprised that the fight had people talking.
In my experience, a lot of people who aren’t die-hard boxing fans were expressing a lot
of interest in this matchup.
Indeed, it seemed that there was more interest in the Wilder-Fury rematch than I had recalled
seeing since the retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr.
I’m not talking about die-hard boxing fans, but rather varying degrees of casual fans.
And I don’t mean this in a derogatory way.
The term “casual fan” is something that often has a lot of negative connotations throughout
the online boxing community.
You often see situations where one poster takes offense to something written by another
poster, with the all too common criticism, “You’re a casual fan, you don’t know
shit about boxing”.
Personally I think die-hard fans tend to be a little harsh towards so-called “casual
fans”.
After all when casual fans are interested and they tune in, it helps promote the overall
health of the sport.
But that Wilder-Fury rematch, there were varying degrees of casual fans who were fired-up for
the rematch.
And after the somewhat controversial nature of the draw in their first bout, many observers
were quite surprised by the one-sided nature of the rematch, where Tyson Fury stopped Deontay
Wilder to become the new WBC heavyweight champion while also retaining his rightful claim as
the lineal champion.
Fury’s dominant victory had people talking even more after the fight.
This was something that, in theory at least, should have created momentum for the sport.
It seemed inevitable that this would be the beginning of a great year for boxing!
But unfortunately, with the situation stemming from COVID-19, and the lockdowns and social
distancing guidelines that have basically changed life as we knew it, that momentum
never materialized in the aftermath of Fury’s dominant victory against Wilder.
Instead, boxing (along with basically everything else) came to a screeching halt, and now promoters
are still scrambling to try to cope with figuring out ways to bring back boxing in this entirely
new landscape.
So within the span of a few months, we went from newfound interest among casual fans to
absolutely no interest at all among that same faction.
As if 2020 couldn’t have gotten any stranger, an amazing figure emerged that changed all
of this.
I’m talking about a man who first captured the imagination of the boxing public when
he became the youngest heavyweight champion, Iron Mike Tyson!
Holy shit!
So Mike Tyson releases this short video clip of him training, and all of a sudden everyone
is all fired-up about the triumphant return of Iron Mike Tyson!
And a lot of rumors started floating around.
Tyson was going to come back and have a third fight against former rival Evander ‘Real
Deal’ Holyfield.
And then there was a rumor that Tyson might jump right in and challenge Tyson Fury.
And at one point I even recall seeing a rumor that Tyson was going to square off against
Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs in a bare knuckles fight!
When it was recently announced that Tyson would be squaring off against Roy Jones Jr
in an exhibition bout on September 12 - honestly, I heard more people talking boxing than I
recall in years.
At least dating back to when anticipation of a Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown started
peaking after Pac-Man defeated Miguel Cotto.
So Iron Mike Tyson is back!
And fans are extremely excited.
Whoa!
Back up, take it easy.
I mean after all, this is just an exhibition, right?
This is just some kind of exhibition fight.
This ain’t don’t mean nothing.
No, no, no, no, no, man.
That’s where you’re wrong.
This is not just an exhibition fightt that doesn’t mean anything.
OK!
Maybe it isn’t just an exhibition bout, and the main reason it isn’t is because
all of a sudden boxing fans are excited and talking!
And yes, the reason so many people are talking is because of casual fans who enjoy watching
watching some boxing.
These are people who generally watch boxing matches a few times a year when we get a high
profile matchup.
And they may otherwise be bored, and say screw it!
Let’s watch Rocky III again.
Get outta my face!
I don’t need nothin’ you got no more.
I don’t need no has-been messing in my corner.
And you better get that bad look off your face before I knock it off!
See, the thing of it is, boxing fans in the United States, the casual fan has been a dying
breed.
Basically I think this all started when the US boxers were no longer dominating the heavyweight
division, and I think a tangible point in time would be after Lennox Lewis retired.
Lennox wasn’t an American, but he competed during the era when the US still produced
big name heavyweights like Tyson, Holyfield, Riddick Bowe, and even seasoned old vets like
‘Big’ George Foreman and ‘The Easton Assassin’.
After that, De La Hoya was one of the biggest draws, and eventually it was Pacquiao and
Mayweather who almost exclusively commanded the attention of those who have an interest
in boxing, but don’t necessarily LOVE boxing.
The simple fact is that after all of these years, Mike Tyson still has such a great abundance
of charisma, that people want to see him compete!
People are fascinated by Mike Tyson to this very day, and the proof is in the chatter.
Tyson still has that unique way to generate a lot of interest and excitement, and in that
sense - that training clip he released - incredibly, this proves that Tyson still exudes an amazing
aura of invincibility more than 30 full years after he was defeated in the biggest upset
in boxing history at the hands of a highly motivated Tokyo Douglas.
But we’ve seen this movie before, back when Tyson made his return to boxing in the mid-90s.
The aura of invincibility was still there, where many believed Tyson would tear through
the division and reclaim the undisputed championship that once belonged to him.
It didn’t play out that way, but Tyson did reclaim the WBC belt that had once belonged
to him, as well as the WBA belt that once belonged to him.
People wanted to believe that 1980s Tyson was still around.
But it wasn’t the same Tyson.
And even now, people know he’s 54, but with Tyson seemingly re-dedicated (perhaps even
more so now than he was throughout most of his post-prison career), people still want
to believe this is prime Tyson vs prime Roy.
But Tyson’s prime fighting years were in the late 1980s.
And as for Roy Jones, his best years were during the late 90s into the early 2000s.
Mike Tyson is 54 years old.
Roy Jones Jr is 51 years old.
And yet, this is (at least as far as I know) the most anticipated exhibition fight during
the long rich history of boxing.
And again, I think this largely stems from the fact that casual fans in the US started
losing interest when Americans were no longer dominating the heavyweight landscape.
In recent years, we had Deontay Wilder who reigned for 5 years while accumulating 10
title defenses.
But Wilder never captured the public’s imagination the way Tyson did.
Although in fairness, very few have.
Mike and Roy did capture the public’s imagination.
And evidently, they still do, both men heroes from a bygone era.
The excitement for an exhibition bout between two living legends is the living embodiment
of what boxing has become among casuals in the US.
There was a time when this fight was being talked about after Roy had defeated John Ruiz
to win the WBA heavyweight title.
One of the main reasons that fight had appeal was because even though Tyson was past his
best, Roy was never really a heavyweight.
Tyson was still a huge draw back then, Roy was in the discussion of one of the best boxers
of all time, and it had an intriguing clash of styles between two incredible athletes
with vastly different approaches.
But the fight of course never materialized.
As far as the Tyson-Jones exhibition bout goes, my hope and expectation is that both
Mike and Roy have some fun while putting on a show.
Life is short, and we’re all racing towards the same finish line, so if Tyson and Jones
can find personal fulfillment from this, then I applaud them and wish them nothing but the
absolute best.
It’s simply amazing that two icons of boxing history are now once again generating tremendous
interest in boxing, at a time when boxing is struggling with unprecedented circumstances.
But here’s the reality of the situation.
This isn’t two former NBA greats playing a friendly game of H.O.R.S.E.
The drive to compete might be just as strong, but boxing is a very dangerous sport.
You don’t want to believe this, but that ain’t us up there no more, Apollo.
We can’t do that the way we did it before.
Without some challenge, without some damn war to fight, then the warrior might as well
be dead, Stallion.
I think and hope that fans should temper expectations here.
At the end of the day, I’m expecting what hopefully amounts to a relaxed, light, glorified
sparring match, not unlike Tyson’s previous exhibition bout against Corey ‘T-Rex’
Sanders.
At least that’s what I am hoping because in all seriousness - I would absolutely hate
seeing one of these bona fide All Time greats getting injured or seriously hurt.
That would be terrible, and again, with the type of charisma exuded by Mike, it almost
feels as if some people are not looking at this as a light hearted exhibition between
two former greats, but rather acting as if this was a time machine matchup.
This isn’t a time machine match-up.
It’s two men in their 50s who both possess skills and talents that go beyond boxing.
In conclusion, I just want to say - if you had told me at the start of this year that
Mike Tyson and Roy Jones would act as symbolic saviors for the sport in 2020, I would have
said you must be smoking better dope than I am.
And yet, here we are!
Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones, coming September 12 just over a month away.
Holy shit!
I won’t lie, I’m genuinely a little concerned about all of this.
I’m really hoping for a glorified light sparring match where they both take it easy.
And I am certain I am not alone.
Thanks for watching everyone.
I hope you enjoyed and have a wonderful night.
This is Rummy’s Corner.
Hey woman!
Listen here, since your old man ain’t got no heart, maybe you’d like to see a real
man.
Excuse me, aren’t you Bruce Jenner?
Don’t make me come back for him.
I’ll tell you what.
Bring your pretty little self over to my apartment tonight, and I’ll show you a real man.
You want it, you got it!
No I am not.
Are you sure?
Don’t make me knock you out!
That was Mike Tyson.
Yeah!
No shit that was Mike Tyson.
I’m just saying!
He’s still got it.
Do you accept the challenge for a rematch with Balboa?
I reject the challenge because Balboa is no challenge, but I’d be more than happy to
beat up on him some more.