Mike Tyson makes pay row claim about Jones Jr fight
Mike Tyson has raised doubts he will step into the ring again and claims not to have been paid in full for his last fight.
The Brooklynite was reportedly guaranteed a handsome minimum purse of $10 million for a November 2020 exhibition bout with former pound-for-pound great Roy Jones Jr., which is said to have generated 1.6 million purchases on pay-per-view.
But as explained during an appearance on the Full Send Podcast when asked by UFC president Dana White, promoter Triller – with whom Tyson has cut ties – allegedly hasn't coughed up all that was promised to him.
Confirming that "most of it" had been paid, Tyson said there was "still a bunch that’s held up and I can’t even say anything about this".
"Yeah, it was really tricky," he added.
"That’s what they should call it. Tricky instead of Triller," quipped White, who has called the promotion a "f*cking joke" in the past and its CEO Ryan Kavanaugh an "idiot".
As the topic was raised, Tyson also put to bed recent rumors he could face YouTube prankster-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a Las Vegas exhibition meeting.
While The Sun said that talks were "advanced" between the pair's camps, Tyson shrugged on Twitter that it was "new to me".
"I saw Jake in St. Barths and he never mentioned it," he wrote in a Tweet.
This is new to me. I saw Jake in St. Barths and he never mentioned it. https://t.co/eL01HDMdmr
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) January 17, 2022
Tyson told White: "I’m not even interested in doing this stuff".
"If it was back when it first started, yes, and we were both fighting on the same card and both active, yeah I would do it. But it just turned bad. It didn’t turn out right," he claimed.
After White said that he didn't wish to see Tyson fight in any event, the 55-year-old acknowledged this by saying "I know", adding "I don't think I will either but you never know again."
"Every 12 to 13 months, boom, something is missing. Like, something is missing. Boom, I'm missing muscle mass, boom, it's always something different," Tyson went on.
"Guys want to fight me for $100 million. I don’t think I’ll ever do stuff like that anymore.
"I wanted to do it the first time [against Jones], just for fun, to have fun. Some people took it to another level and made it financial and the fun went out of it," Tyson lamented.
As for Paul, he seems more interested in crossing over to MMA after amassing a 5-0 record in boxing and recently accepted a proposal from ex-UFC lightweight ruler Khabib Nurmagomedov to join his Eagle FC promotion that has just expanded to the US.
The Russian said the doors are "always open for you and your team", to which the 25-year-old answered: "Deal. Only if I fight you first."
Yet in a tweet addressed to White, Paul earlier expressed a desire to campaign in a heavier division.
"When I make my MMA debut, I could cut 20 pounds and do it at welterweight / 170 pounds."
"That’s what all UFC fighters do and many have destroyed their bodies and minds doing it," Paul claimed.
"But I’m going do it at middleweight (185). Health first. P.S Conor [McGregor is] walking around at 190lbs," he said, in reference to the Irishman's bulked-up physique since losing to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 last July.
