Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr: Knockouts & Betting Allowed, Fight To Be Scored
Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. will be allowed to go for the knockout when they clash in an exhibition bout this weekend.
Triller co-founder Ryan Kavanaugh has also confirmed people will be allowed to bet on the fight, the fight will be scored, and a winner will be declared when it concludes. This contrasts with what the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) claimed about the fight recently. CSAC director Andy Foster previously labeled Tyson vs. Jones Jr. as hard sparring and insisted neither man will be allowed to knock the other out.
“Let’s call it an exhibition. That’s what it is,” Foster told MMA Fighting. “I want the public to know what this is because I don’t want people to be disappointed. As long as they know this is an exhibition, I’m fine for everybody to earn.”
“There’s no official judges,” Foster continued. “The WBC is going to have some guest celebrity judges remotely, not official, not 10-9 [scores], nothing like that. No cumulative score. No winner announced.
“There’s no winner going to be announced. I do think that’s very important to get out there. The unofficial scores are for entertainment only and that’s done by the WBC remotely. Not by the commission cause the commission didn’t credential those judges because of COVID. It’s for entertainment purposes only. There’s no official winner at the end of this.”
Kavanaugh has refuted Foster’s claims in an interview with Variety Magazine, he said.
“That commissioner, Andy, who stated that — I have not had a direct discussion with him, but we’ve been told by the people who do that that was him trying to make a name for himself in a magazine. It’s unfortunate because we wanted to bring more fights to California, but now because of him, we won’t. We’ll probably take that to Vegas and Texas.”
“A knockout is allowed,” he said. “We heard someone say there’s no knockouts. A knockout is absolutely allowed…If someone’s bleeding, the fight’s not going to stop.”
“[CSAC] approved the fight,” Kavanaugh continued. “They will have a ref there. The ref will be overseeing the fight under are all normal fight professional rules, with a few exceptions.”
“We have nothing but the utmost respect for Andy and everyone at CSAC,” Kavanaugh added. “For total clarity we are not implying that CSAC is picking a winner or scoring. WBC is scoring and a winner will be determined using those scores as a basis. The results will not be reflected on their fight record. We apologize for any confusion and look forward to a great night of fights Saturday night.”
Do you think Mike Tyson & Roy Jones Jr. will be having a real fight this weekend?
