Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr: what are the odds for the fight?
Iron Mike Tyson may be three years older than his opponent Roy Jones Jr. and was last in a ring 14 years ago but he starts out as slight favourite in Los Angeles.
Mike Tyson’s last professional fight was in June 2005 when he came up against Kevin McBride, who he threatened to “gut like a fish” at the MCI Center in Washington DC. But the bout was over by the seventh round when an exhausted Tyson refused to get up from his corner after having been deducted two points for deliberately headbutting his opponent. He announced his retirement soon after but was back in the ring 16 months later for an exhibition fight against Corey ‘T-Rex’ Sanders, nine years his junior which he arranged purely to raise enough cash to pay off his debts. So it has been 14 years since Iron Mike, who turned 54 in June, last stepped into the ring. Nevertheless, he is slight favourite with the bookies – he has spent months training for this fight and the reduced, two-minute rounds suits his explosive, combative style.
At 51, former four division world champion Roy Jones Jr. is younger than Tyson and was active until more recently. His last fight was almost three years ago, beating Scott Sigmon by unanimous decision after 10 rounds in Florida on 8 February 2018. His career record stands at 66 wins, nine defeats and no draws with a knock-out ratio of 71%. The fight was stopped in five of those nine defeats. Roy Jones Jr. concedes that due to the new conditions imposed by the WBC, he goes into Saturday’s fight as the underdog. “The longer you keep Mike fresh, the more dangerous that is for me. I need to get Mike un-fresh quick, so that I can get out this danger zone. I'm going to have to work a little bit faster than I expected to,” he told The Joe Rogan Experience podcast last month.
DraftKings, the official betting partner of the match, have Tyson as -225 favourite over Jones whose odds have improved slightly and stand +170. That means a $225 bet would win you a profit of $100, while a $100 wager on +170 would pay out $170. There are also various other prop bets available such as the method of victory (Mike Tyson via KO, TKO, DQ [-150]; Roy Jones Jr. via KO, TKO, DQ [+450]; Mike Tyson via decision/technical decision (+400); Roy Jones Jr. via decision/technical decision (+300); Draw or technical draw (+1200). Length of Match: either to win in the first 60 seconds: Yes (+850); No (-1800).