A prominent former boxing champion says he can smell fear on Roy Jones Jr. and advises him to cancel the Mike Tyson exhibition
- Roy Jones Jr. should cancel November's exhibition against Mike Tyson, Nigel Benn said.
- Benn, 56, is a former two-weight world champion and believes Jones fears Tyson.
- Jones has threatened to withdraw from the wildly-anticipated bout, only to u-turn days later.
- According to Benn, he should never have u-turned.
A prominent former boxing champion says he can smell fear on Roy Jones Jr. and would advise canceling the Mike Tyson exhibition.
The informal, friendly, and unofficial bout was originally supposed to take place this month but was recently postponed until November 28, hoping it attracts a greater audience.
Shortly after the two-month deal was announced, Jones threatened to withdraw from the exhibition as he said he should be financially compensated for having to wait on the bout while shelving any other plans he had.
"My lawyers is talking with their lawyers," Jones said in August. "If they don't make it make sense," the fight "would be off."
Within days, he u-turned on his threat to withdraw and went back to promising trouble, instead.
Now, Nigel Benn — a retired British boxer who won championships at middleweight and super middleweight more than 20 years ago — said Jones fears Tyson.
"If you listen to the way Roy is talking, there's a lot of fear there," he said in an interview with Press Box PR, as reported by World Boxing News.
"I would be. Look who he's getting in the ring with. He's talking about how big and powerful Tyson is – he's not just hyping the fight – it's the truth. I wouldn't get in the ring with him.
"All you need is to take one shot, and that is it, over with. When you watch him hit the pads, you can see he's not playing around."
According to Benn, however much money Jones makes from the exhibition may not be enough for getting hit hard by Tyson.
Jones is a former champion of four weight classes, dominating opponents through the 1990s and early 2000s. The American continued boxing long past his prime, losing three in a row between 2009 and 2011, suffering a knockout loss in 2015, and then taking on inferior competition up until 2018.
Three of Jones' last four losses have been knockouts, which concerns Benn.
"It's going to be a hard night for Roy," Benn, 56, said. "He might be getting ten or 12 million [dollars], but it's not worth it, because all you need is to take one hit.
"We've seen Roy get knocked out by nobodies, getting stopped in his last fight, now he's fighting [Tyson]. I think it's a bad move to tell you the truth. Who wants to get in the ring with Mike Tyson?"
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