The World Boxing Council is sanctioning and scoring it. A “Frontline championship” is on the line. The combatants are set to wear 12-ounce gloves – not a lot of padding for heavyweight punchers. And they’re both sparring as if they’re going to fight. They expect the other will end up going for the knockout, intentional or otherwise.
If the Nov. 28 meeting between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. is an exhibition, it’s only so because the regulator sanctioning the event, the California State Athletic Commission, says it must be. Jones Jr. uses air quotes when he uses the word.