Boxing fans don’t care about Mike Tyson’s age, they just want to see him fight. Tyson’s comeback fight against Roy Jones Jr. reportedly brought in $80 million in pay-per-view purchases, according to the New York Post.
Those figures come courtesy of Triller — the fight’s distributer — and Tyson’s Legends Only League. If accurate, those numbers would make Tyson-Jones among the top-10 most purchased PPV fights ever.
Tyson and Jones both benefited from those buys. Tyson, 54, reportedly made $10 million as a result of the fight. Jones, 51, reportedly made $3 million. Despite their age, both men lasted eight rounds. The fight wasn’t officially scored, but the celebrity judges called it a draw. Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole scored the fight 78-74 for Tyson.
Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield could fight next
Given the financial success of the Jones fight, Tyson has every incentive in the world to hold a rematch against Evander Holyfield. The two haven’t fought since 1997, when Tyson bit off a piece of Holyfield’s ear. The fight was called after that, giving Holyfield the win. Holyfield also defeated Tyson when the two met a year earlier.
Despite winning both fights — and the whole ear thing — Holyfield, 58, wants to get back into the ring to face Tyson a third time. Holyfield said his side tried to schedule a rematch with Tyson, but Tyson’s side avoided it. After watching Tyson and Jones go at it, Holyfield said he could “see why [Tyson] wanted a tune-up fight before thinking about fighting me.”
If Tyson continues his comeback, a third Tyson-Holyfield bout feels inevitable. Both men seem open to the idea, probably because there are boatloads of money to be made.
