Mike Tyson insists fans will see the real him against Roy Jones Jr after drug issues saw him end career as a ‘ghost’
MIKE TYSON insists he will exorcise the drug-fuelled demons of his final pro fight with his exhibition comeback.
The 54-year-old heavyweight legend fights Roy Jones Jr on November 28, 15 years after quitting the sport following two dismal defeats.
At the start of the 2000s, Iron Mike was gripped by a number of addictions and blew a reported £350million fortune, partly on cocaine.
The veteran still admits to smoking around £33,000 of cannabis a month but he claims his ring return will show how much a cleaner lifestyle has saved the planet’s former baddest man.
Tyson said: “When I quit boxing after my last fight I was just happy it was over. I was a totally different person back then.
“I was only fighting for money, I was on drugs. But now I have the desire and will to do this.
“That guy back then was a ghost of me. I feel great now and I want the world to see that.”
Jones, 51, is rightly considered one of the finest pound-for-pound fighters in history and was still active as recently as 2018.
And he claims the reason he has taken on the task is to tell children he once faced the legend.
So the Californian commission’s decision to limit the fight to two-minute rounds with 12oz gloves has angered him.
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“The last guy to go in the ring for an exhibition with Mike got dropped in the first round, so I know exactly how dangerous this is,” he said.
“I am not happy that we are only fighting two minutes rounds, that is what the women do.
“We are two of the best to ever do it. Why cut it down? It just cheats the fans.
“All my life kids would ask me ‘did you ever fight Mike Tyson’ and now for the rest of my life i will be able to say ‘yes’”.