No sooner had a draw been declared in the exhibition bout between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr than fans and pundits were venting their anger. Instead, we should be thankful both men simply emerged unscathed.
Anyone hoping to see Tyson and Jones roll back the years when they met in the ring at the Staples Center on Saturday night was inevitably being set up for disappointment.
Here were two men with a combined age of 105 and whose former glories – while once shining resplendently – had been left far, far behind in the mists of sporting folklore.
What played out in the ring in Los Angeles was largely predictable: a slow-paced spectacle during which both men – but Tyson in particular – showed flashes of their prime but were mostly content to take to the clinch to catch their breath when they could.
Tyson showed the greater intent and landed more punches, and even the most hardened opponents to him stepping back between the ropes to fight for the first time since 2005 will have struggled not to raise a smile at the sight of the former ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’ back in his famous black shorts.
The 54-year-old’s head movement and body shots evoked fleeting memories of the fighter he once was, and Jones would later dutifully claim that when Tyson hits you, “everything hurts.”
But in reality, even the clean punches Tyson landed were laden with nowhere near as much ferocity as they once were – and were certainly not enough to have the 51-year-old Jones in any serious trouble.
Jones’ approach seemed much more in keeping with the exhibition nature of the bout, content to do his work from a distance. The former four-weight world champion also looked notably less conditioned than Tyson.
It was at times engaging and entertaining, but it was also awkward and for large parts plodding and predictable.