CAPE TOWN – Former world heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr has threatened to pull out of his rescheduled fight against Mike Tyson if he is not offered more money.
The fight between the two former world champions was originally scheduled for September 12, but Tyson and his organisers decided to delay it to November 28 in a bid to bring in more revenue, according to Metro.co.uk.
Now an upset Jones has revealed he won’t go ahead with the fight unless he is compensated.
“I’ve had to cancel other stuff to be out here, it’s upset my calendar, I’ve got to change things. That’s why we have to table bullsh*t now,’ Jones said in an interview with the UK’s Daily Mail.
“That’s the biggest issue, I’m not a full-time boxer any more, so I do other things to make an income. If I can’t do other things then I should be compensated for that, because it changes the schematics. It’s not acceptable,” he added.
“We’re trying to figure something out, my lawyer is talking with their lawyers, trying to figure out what’s to make it a better situation so that I can be compensated for it, that is more beneficial for me to do.
“If they don’t make it make sense, it (the fight) would be off. Why would I change the date and mess up the rest of my year when I agreed to September 12?
“They said they wanted to get a crowd, if you want to get a crowd, that’s a different type of money. If you want a big event, that’s a different type of money. You think I’m going to say, ‘okay, let’s look at my money,’ but I’m not getting no better percent(age).
“How dumb is that to me? So, let’s see what happens.”
The 54-year-old Tyson has not stepped in the ring professionally since he lost to Kevin McBride in 2005, while the 51-year-old Jones last fought professionally two years ago.
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