Boxing was supposed to get a treat over the weekend with the return of Mike Tyson.
What fight fans got instead was an exhibition. A heated sparring session was better.
Yeah, even before Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. got it on in Los Angeles, it had been agreed that there would be no mayhem.
The California State Athletic Commission had mandated that the fight would last eight rounds with no one emerging as the winner.
To ensure that both men would still be standing by the final bell, the commission required them to wear larger than the usual 12-ounce gloves.
With Tyson, 54, holding his punches and Jones, 51, a shadow of his old self, there was no mistaking that the fight’s going to go the full route before a television production team, necessary personnel and select few from the commission and promotional team.
I must admit that I was lured into watching the “fight” while I was closing the sports pages simply because I had long been a hardcore Tyson fan and a Jones admirer as well.
Believe it or not, the first time I saw Tyson fight was on video when I was in high school as my old man was fond of renting fight tapes over at Greenhills.
By the time Tyson had made himself the top contender, I was already a diehard follower since I had seen him blow away a hapless bunch of losers in Hector Mercedes, Donnie Long, Lorenzo Canady, Sammy Scaff, Conroy Nelson, Dave Jaco and Steve Zouski.
Twice, I got to cover his fights. I was at ringside when he mauled British pride Frank Bruno in March 1996 at the MGM Grand and was back, this time at the Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee, in June 2002 when he was sadly destroyed by Lennox Lewis.
Years later as Manny Pacquiao was getting ready for a fight in Las Vegas, I saw Tyson again when he dropped by to pay his respects to the Filipino legend.
To make sure the moment is well documented, I, and a handful of Filipino scribes, posed for a photo with the puncher once called “The Baddest Man on the Planet.”
So, after watching the first minute of the first round with Jones, I knew it would go the distance and both men did end up exchanging pleasantries afterwards looking as if they both have agreed to meet up later and have a drink or two.
Tyson tried to make it interesting by unleashing his power shots at the defensive Jones, who, during his heyday, was a master boxer extraordinaire.
But with flabs hanging around the waist area, Jones was too slow to react while Tyson, utterly handicapped by the commission’s orders, many times opted not to pull the trigger.
Still, it was fun seeing them share the ring given the current situation.
With the coronavirus situation going out of hand in the United States and in Europe and in some parts of Latin America, the message relayed is loud and clear.
With COVID-19 still very much in our midst, the truly big fights won’t be taking place anytime soon on American soil.
So those who are drooling over the prospects of seeing Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder face off for the third time will be frustrated to realize it won’t be happening in the foreseeable future. How about Pacquiao? More so because an interested promoter will need the crowd to help him pay Pacquiao through massive gate receipts since the eight-division champion remains a major box-office draw.
In the meantime, the public will have to be just content with watching B-side fighters strut their stuff from time to time.
And while some A-listers like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez have scheduled fights, it won’t be against a fellow marquee boxer like himself, since pairing him with a fellow top attraction requires the involvement of a crowd.
Instead, we should all just be satisfied watching oldies like Tyson and Jones slug it out for show.
