Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr rules stress exhibition, no winner to be announced

Saturday’s Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr pay-per-view exhibition bout still has at least some confusion; like, we keep calling it an exhibition bout, but if it’s said to Tyson and Jones, they get all huffy and deny that it is one.

So let’s be clear: it’s a $49.99 exhibition bout.

CSAC’s Andy Foster broke it down to MMA Fighting:

“Let’s call it an exhibition. That’s what it is. 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. 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. That’s a very entertainment centered thing. It’s about entertainment. It’s not about competition. ... It is what it is and it’s not more than it is but it’s going to be fun.”

As for the WBC making up a title (the “Frontline Title”), Foster says both men will be given belts after the fight, and also compared this to the Julio Cesar Chavez-Jorge Arce exhibitions that those two stars have done in Mexico. We covered the most recent of those — it was fun, it was for a good cause, and no, you wouldn’t have confused it with a 100 percent competition:

Now also to be fully clear, unlike Chavez-Arce, Tyson and Jones will not be wearing headgear. Foster has in the past said they’ll be capped at “hard sparring” by instruction, and that referee Ray Corona is there to make sure it doesn’t go beyond that. The fight will consist of eight rounds at two minutes apiece, they’ll be wearing 12-ounce gloves, and it will be stopped if there is a “bad cut,” though what constitutes a “bad cut” is often up for interpretation in boxing. Both did have to do medicals and enter VADA testing for the exhibition.

How to Watch Tyson vs Jones

Date: Saturday, Nov. 28 | Start Time: 9:00 pm ET
Location: Staples Center - Los Angeles, CA
TV: PPV ($49.99) | Stream: FITE TV PPV ($49.99)
Live Online Coverage: BadLeftHook.com

Like Foster said, there’s no one saying this can’t be interesting, can’t be entertaining, can’t be fun. There is also no telling what might actually happen, even with the exhibition rules in place. But you won’t see a sustained hard fight — it’s not meant to be one, and the commission, who aren’t trying to sell you a pay-per-view, have been quite clear that if it goes too far, it will be stopped.