Tyson, Jones Jr. ready for return
Mike Tyson stepped onto a spotlighted stage Friday and weighed in at 220 pounds, ripping off his shirt to reveal a muscled torso that could belong to an athlete of half his 54 years.
The former heavyweight champion moved into a COVID-protective glass box and went nose-to-nose with Roy Jones Jr., once the most talented fighter in the world. Jones’ 210-pound frame was slightly less toned, but still clearly in better condition than most of his fellow 51-year-olds.
These two boxing greats are older, calmer men now, but they’re returning to the ring Saturday night intending to recapture a moment of their brilliant past — and they’ve both worked very hard to make sure they won’t be embarrassed in this extraordinary boxing exhibition.
“This is the fun part,” said Tyson, who will fight for the first time in 15 years. “Everything else to get here was hell.”
Their fight at Staples Center is an eight-round sparring session of sorts. It will have two-minute rounds, no official judging and limited violence, although the limit depends on whether you’re asking the California State Athletic Commission or the fighters, who both intend to let their hands go.
“Maybe I don’t know how to go easy,” Tyson said. “I don’t know. I don’t want to say the wrong thing. I don’t want the commission mad at me.”
But for Tyson and Jones, this unique pay-per-view show is less of a sporting event and more of a chance for two transcendent athletes to prove age is a number — and aging is a choice.
“I don’t look at life as age,” Tyson said. “I look at life as energy. You don’t bring your age to the table. You bring your energy to the table. You don’t go meet people: ‘Hey, I’m Bob. I’m 59.’ You don’t do that.”
College basketball: Jeremiah RobinsonEarl scored a career-high 28 points to lead No. 3 Villanova over No. 18 Arizona State 83-74 Thursday night in the championship game of the Empire Classic. ... Ohio State Drew Timme had 28 points and 10 rebounds, Corey Kispert scored 25 points and top-ranked Gonzaga routed Auburn 90-67 on Friday in the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off. In other action from the event, Christian Braun scored 30 points and No. 6 Kansas pulled away from Saint Joseph’s, winning 94-72.
College football: Ohio State football coach Ryan Day has tested positive for COVID-19. OSU annouced late Friday it would not travel to Champaign, Ill., for Saturday’s game against Illinois. “The Department of Athletics has paused all team-related football activities. The decision to cancel and pause was made jointly by Director of Athletics Gene Smith, University President Kristina M. Johnson, head team physician Dr. Jim Borchers and in consultation with the Big Ten Conference,” the school stated in a press release.
Hockey: The National Collegiate Hockey Conference has made changes to its 2020-21 schedule because of a positive COVID-19 test and quarantine requirements for the entire Colorado College team. The conference will still begin its pod season on Tuesday at the University of Nebraka Omah’s Baxter Arena. But Colorado College’s first four games have been moved. The COVID-19 case on the Colorado College team resulted in seven games being changed.
The NBA released a condensed 49-game preseason schedule Friday, with teams playing between two and four games starting on Dec. 11. Preseason contests will continue through Dec. 19. Teams begin training camps next week. The league plans to reveal the first half of the 72-game regular season schedule — games between Dec. 22 and March 4 — in the coming days. Games for the season’s second half, scheduled as between March 11 and May 16, will come out around the season’s midpoint.
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