Four-time world champion Zab Judah says that heavyweight icon Mike Tyson has rolled back the years in preparation for his ring return against fellow legend Roy Jones at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
Tyson, 54, will meet Jones, 51, over eight, two-minute rounds in a high-profile exhibition bout between veterans that has piqued the curiousity of the boxing world and beyond.
Judah, a fellow Brooklynite and close friend of Tyson, expects a reborn ‘Iron Mike’ to go for the knockout despite the California State Athletic Commission’s assertion that the fight will be nothing more than a hard spar.
“I just finished up a training camp with Mike Tyson. I’m here to tell the world that Mike Tyson is coming into the ring Saturday night to put in a lot of pain. He’s not playing, this is not a game,” Judah told The Mirror.
“I understand they’re playing around and throwing the rulebook around, but my bro coming to hurt something. So I want everybody to know that this is not going to be a game. The Mike Tyson you know from the past, I think he’s back.
“Let me tell you why: there was a guy who came to the training camp and he came with a full set of teeth but he left with one tooth missing. So that’s back to the intensity of what Mike is doing again. Bro is on it, it’s going to be crazy.”