The road to the highly anticipated exhibition boxing match between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. has been met with uproar, and some questions since the attack was announced.
Originally scheduled to take place on September 12, MMA Fighting confirmed earlier this month that the match between two former world champions will now take place on November 28 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. The event will be streamed via cable, satellite and social media platform Triller for $ 49.99.
When the pieces came together, MyMMANews.com reported that Classic Entertainment & Sports, the parent company of New England fighting promotion CES MMA – along with CES Boxing – will be promoting the event with the headline by Tyson and Jones.
CES COO Jimmy Burchfield Jr. confirmed Tuesday to MMA Fighting that the company would be involved with the Nov. 28-card, and future events for Tyson’s Legends Only League, but more in a consultative role.
“That’s not an easy question to answer,” Burchfield told MMA Fighting when asked about the card’s promoter. “We were raised by a company called Eros (Innovations) to help create a unique platform for this Legends Only League.
“What we are trying to do is not to do it in the traditional sense where the promoter is ahead, but to do more about the fighters. We will continue with the traditional responsibilities in dealing with commission issues, martial arts, but we focus on trying to create this Legends Only League that will be different from the way martial arts has done it in the past. “
Jones Jr. spoke recently with MMA Fighting and explained that one of the more appealing factors in taking this opportunity to grab Tyson was that there would be no one of the typical boxing promoters.
In a recent interview with the Daily Mail, Jones Jr. was not happy that the date was postponed – even he threatened to withdraw completely from the fight if he was not compensated for the delay.
Burchfield was asked about why the event was postponed and one of the main reasons was that the hope is that spectators in the venue could be the possibility, among other things.
“We sat around and watched what was going on. Mike Tyson’s legend, Roy Jones’ legend resonated, plus put on these other fights that won treats, and we realized that people demanded tickets, wondering how to watch this live. , “Burchfield explained. ‘We looked at it and said,’ Hey, maybe there’s the possibility of pushing this back where we might have some spectators. That was one factor to consider.
“Another factor to consider is the Saturday after Thanksgiving is an enormous night and we thought the potential of that particular night would be huge from a marketing standpoint – that we give more time to highlight the event. There were real business problems causing it to backfire. “
As of now, Jones Jr. will still be part of the festivities in the eight-round exhibition main event.
Another fighter on the map recently discussed is YouTube star Jake Paul, who is slated for former NBA player Nate Robinson in the co-main event. Earlier this month, Paul’s home was raided by federal agents who seized a collection of firearms.
Paul has not been charged since the robbery. When asked about Paul’s participation, Burchfield is confident he will compete as planned.
“We have no reason to believe that Jake is incapable of fighting,” Burchfield explained. “We are excited. That’s a high profile match for us, a high profile matchup between those two guys. An elite athlete in Nate Robinson against Jake Paul who has shown he has the ability to throw. We do not see any problem based on the information we have. ”
While the concept swings with two of the hottest grits of boxing at their inaugural event, there are no plans for the Legends Only League to be a one-off event. In fact, this is the beginning of something Burchfield confidently believes could make a big splash straight from the ball.
“The game plan is that this is the first of many,” Burchfield said. ‘This is what we feel we have legs. Thinking outside the box, taking legends like Mike Tyson and Roy Jones, showing them off and bringing in the traditional boxing fanbase, these other matchups feature pitiful personalities from the NBA’s social influencer world, who have legitimate – as we would know — fighters from the history of boxing competing against each other, it will give this thing a greater reach than normal.
“That’s something so exciting about this, having a range with live boxing events, live music cards, and this will be shown to so many people in and out of the boxing world.”
Without looking too far ahead of the task – making November 28 a success – Burchfield is excited about the future of this new model in space.
Not only is he excited, but other notable names in the martial arts world have expressed interest in participating in future events once it is launched.
“It’s been incredible,” Burchfield explained. “You name it, everyone is interested in being involved. The feedback has been great. Again, this Legends Only League is not just about boxers and MMA fighters, it is about anyone who is a legend in the sport who is interested in competing against each other. This is the first so much, the test event. As most people know, you can not get much bigger in this world than Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. This is the size we start with.
“It’s been an incredible journey and it’s going to be an incredible few months leading up to November 28.”
