Mike Tyson would destroy Roy Jones Jr, former rival says

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Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson Reuters

A former heavyweight boxer who beat Mike Tyson several times in the past said that Tyson would have destroyed Roy Jones Jr. if they ever faced each other.

Tyson and Jones are two completely different fighters from two different weight classes. However, former world light heavyweight champion Andre Ward recently said that Jones was once offered a huge amount of money to fight Tyson.

A few days after Ward's revelation, Tyson's former foe, Henry Tillman, expressed his thoughts about the fight. In a short talk with Elie Seckbach of EsNews, Tillman was quick to react when asked about what could have happened if the Jones vs. Tyson fight materilazed.

According to Tillman, Tyson would have definitely destroy Jones, not only because Tyson was a heavyweight, but also because he's fast and accurate for his size. "That wouldn't be good for Roy (Jones Jr.)," Tillman said.

"Tyson, not only he a heavyweight, he's fast and very active and very accurate puncher," Tillman pointed out.

Tillman also believes that it would have been a "nasty" loss as even a catchweight fight would still look bizarre given their naturally different physiques. "The outcome would be nasty," Tillman emphasized.

The whole Jones vs. Tyson fight story came from Ward during his recent talk with JRE Clips. According to Ward, he was confident that the amount of money Jones was offered was somewhere near $40 million, Boxing News 24 reported.

"There was a [Mike] Tyson fight on the table, and I believe I'm accurate when I say this it was somewhere around $40 million guaranteed," Ward revealed.

Ward also noted that when this fight was being negotiated, Jones had all the reasons to take it since Tyson's power was starting to decline. However, Jones apparently wanted to get paid more.

"Tyson wasn't quite Tyson at that time. He was still dangerous, but he wasn't quite Tyson. I think they were working towards it. What I heard was Roy wanted more money," Ward added.

To make his statement more credible, Ward even recalled what Jones did instead of taking the fight against Tyson. As per Ward's recollection, Jones focused his attention on Antonio Tarver during those times.

"Roy Jones said 'No, the fight will be there down the road,' and put his attention to Antonio Tarver, and the rest is history," Ward recalled.

Back in 2016, Jones made a huge hypothetical decision pertaining to who would he fight between Tyson and Muhammad Ali. According to Jones, he would rather fight Tyson than Ali as Tyson was more precdictable.

"I would much rather fight Mike Tyson than Muhammad Ali because Mike Tyson was kind of predictable, Ali wasn't," Jones said.

This article was first published in IBTimes US. Permission required for reproduction.

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