Andre Ward & Roy Jones Jr. Breakdown Jake vs Tank, Exhibition Fight Worries & Sanctioning Bodies

0:00What up, this is Roy Jones Jr. I'm hanging out with my man, Andre Ward. We two Hall of Famers will bring y 'all a new show called The Hall of Game. A show where we discuss boxing, sports, life, and entertainment from our view. How much better neck can you get? Me and Roy don't always agree. But one thing you will get is a Hall of Fame worth a game. Top of the morning, top of the morning, Roy Rogers. How you doing, my brother? What you got going on on the farm on the 80 acres, brother? What's going on this morning? Yeah, I'm good, Dre. You know, I'm taking it easy. Everything is going copacetic around here, you know.

0:39Not really much happening. Getting called some crazy names, but, you know, that's just by the other people that live here. So that's really about it, you know. You know that's going to happen. You know, before we came on, we were talking about, I said, man, I got to give me some land. You know, I know you got you on the 80 acres and I'm in a subdivision where I live and I'm still dealing with HOA. I can't I can't work on my car if I want to. I got to send a letter and get permission to do whatever I want to do. Roy. Listen, when I had the basketball, you got to worry about that, though. Not here.

1:12But this is where I went through, Drake. I went to where you are right now. When I was at the crib of the basketball court, I moved some woods back some because there was too many water moccasins showing up. The HOA got mad at me. I had to plant every tree back and say it was a snake habitat. Now, the snakes are going to bite and kill your kids. They told me, no, no, no. You got to leave. Put that back just like it was because the snakes have a habitat there. And we're trying to protect the snakes who are also trying to kill my kids. So it's time to go. I came back out to the 88 acres. I ain't got to worry about none of the HOA stuff.

1:46I am HOA. Now you're HOA. I am HOA. You better believe it. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'm still working on it. I'm still working on it. Today, we're going to talk about some man. You know, it's something that you have participated in. It's something that I'm rumored from time to time to be a participant in, but hasn't happened yet. And it's something that I think if it's the wrong. Fight or matchup, it seems to get under your skin. I start seeing you get agitated, start seeing your eye twitching a little bit and you start getting a little antsy in the chair. And that's the topic of exhibitions, boxing exhibitions.

2:26So today on Hall of Game, this is going to be the exhibition edition. We're going to talk all things boxing exhibitions or exhibition matchups, if it's, you know, some crossover going on. But I want the fans to understand something, because sometimes these these phenomenons come back around or they start to get very popular again. But people got to realize these exhibitions have been going on for a very long time. I'm going to just go back to former heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan. John L. Sullivan, he toured. He fought at local towns and small groups to build morale, give people an opportunity that otherwise wouldn't be able to go to a boxing match or a championship boxing match.

3:09It's a way for fighters to supplement their income back then and to also just continue to build their name and their fan base. You look at the great Joe Lewis, Joe Lewis, he was enlisted in the military and he would go and fight to build morale and to get money for the U.S. war interest. One of the greatest fighters, arguably of all time, depending on where you land on that scale, Sugar Ray Robinson. Sugar Ray Robinson toured to supplement his income, to showcase his skill set. The great Muhammad Ali did it. He did a crossover exhibition in Japan with a wrestler. And we're going to talk a little bit more about that in just a second.

3:47But he also did boxing exhibitions. And I can go down the list of great champions that did this for various reasons. But now in the 21st century, it's a lot of talk about these boxing exhibitions or just exhibitions in general. and I got to get show take at the top of this conversation because it seems like there's some exhibitions that you are okay with, but then it seems like it's some exhibitions that you're not okay with. And I just need to understand the logic behind it because last time I checked, Roy, you've done one, two, three, four exhibitions, and your biggest exhibition came against Iron Mike Tyson.

4:35Y 'all did big number, crazy numbers, 1.6 million, 80 million in revenue. And for me, it's about nostalgia. It's about entertainment. And for y 'all being great fighters and, you know, getting older, I still want to see the competition at this age. So most of these exhibitions, I don't have a problem with. But, Roy, you did them. I think if they call you with the right number now and the right opponent that gets you interested, you might still do it. Why are you feeling the type of way about some of these exhibitions? Which one am I feeling the type of way about? You know which one I'm talking about.

5:17Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather. Oh, I didn't say I feel a certain way about it. I just said it just don't interest me. It's two guys that are so far apart in weight that it really is not interesting to me. Because do I think Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather would have been a great fight in their primes? No. so it don't interest me like that. You understand me? Now, if I thought about a great fight in their prime and they're both older, yeah, I want to see how they still do it in older age just because I like to see what would happen. But these two guys were never even close to being a fight in their prime, so what's it going to be now?

5:50How is that going to work out? You feel him coming from? He's not going to make heavyweight. He's never been a heavyweight and he's going to be above 200 pounds. So how is that going to be even a fight to look at unless he don't fight? You understand me? So it's like, for me, that don't really interest me because I can't see the mythological idea of them really being in the ring. People could see the mythological idea of myself and Mike Tyson fighting. Because after I won the heavyweight title, I told them people plain and clear, the only person that I would stay at heavyweight for is Mike Tyson.

6:23If Mike Tyson doesn't want to fight me right now while I'm at heavyweight, then I'll go back down and recapture the light heavyweight title like I thought Bob Fitzsimmons did. You understand me? So it's not like I have a problem with exhibitions. It's just that it has to be something that I can fathom in my mind. Wow. That would have been a great exhibition to see. Like right now, if somebody said, hey, how would you like to see an exhibition between Andre Ward and Terrence Crawford at 175? Exhibition. That's a beautiful exhibition. That's two great guys in the ring together. You're going to see, even though Andre is beyond his prime, you're still going to see some great things about how they think.

6:58You're not going to get the fireworks you would have gotten in Andre's prime, but you're going to see a lot of how that would have worked out mentally because Andre going to work some of that out mentally. You feel me? So it's like I'm interested in exhibitions that make sense. Now, to Tank's credit, I'm interested in the Tank Jake Paul exhibition because I know for a fact that if they do it for real, Tank is capable, although he's small, he's capable of knocking Jake Paul out, just like Jake Paul probably capable of knocking him out. because he's so much bigger. So you believe that? I believe that without a question.

7:33Without a question, if they fight for real. If they don't, if they say, you know, well, we're going to take care of Jake, just want to go through and learn more, then he might not knock him out. You understand me? But if they do it for real, Tank is highly capable of taking Jake Paul out. So the exhibitions that I like to see are ones that either I can mythically look at and say, wow, well, if he would have did that back when he was 10 years younger or eight or 12 years ago he would have beat him you understand me because you can we know boxing we can see what the landscape looks like without even seeing it you understand me so exhibition amongst two people that are that or were that or one that is that and one that was that that tells people that know the game that tell us a lot exhibition between people who are way apart it's not going to tell us nothing because both y 'all are high level boxers but y 'all so far apart that that was something no one ever phantom.

8:29And to be honest, I ain't going to go that far because you're going to get mad at me again, so I'm just going to keep it at that. What up, Fight Fam? It's your boy, Ak, and we have a massive fight coming your way. You know we had to team up with the squad at DraftKings. Barack, I'm talking about Tank versus Jake Paul. Is that the fight that everybody wanted to see? No, but it's going to wind up being a big fight, and I know when it started. People want to see Jake. People want to see Tank. So essentially, it's a fight that people want to see. They just won't admit it. I believe this started because someone in the camp of Paul said, don't mess with Tank because he'll knock you out.

9:04The fight is an exhibition. Exhibition means nothing. I've seen Sugar Ray Leonard knock somebody out to the body in an exhibition. This is going to be one of those fights that you can't miss. Matter of fact, all fights are like that. So don't forget to check out all that DraftKings has to offer and use our promo code, ATSFIGHTS. The crown is yours. Check out all that DraftKings has to offer via the app or the website. Join in on the fun right now. Why are you still standing there? Download the DraftKings app right now. New customers, I got something special just for you guys. Use our promo code, ATSFIGHTS.

9:34Level up your fight night experience.

9:42I'm going to go back to your exhibition with Mike and then we're going to double back to Javante Davis and Jake Paul. so Mike is 54 you were 51 at that time and I do understand what you're saying that makes sense to me on your takes on the exhibition that makes sense to me how did that fight how did that exhibition come about because everybody's minding their own business in their 50s and all of a sudden the phone rings so how did that fight that exhibition come about with y 'all they called me they said Mike wants to do an exhibition but he needs a dance partner would you dance with him I wanted to fight him when I won the heavyweight title anyway.

10:22So quite naturally, yeah, I want to see what that's like. I want to see what it was like back then. Like I just told you, a lot of times exhibitions gives us an insight of what could have happened back if they were in the same time or had they fought in their primes. So I want to see that insight. When they called me, I was more happy that he wanted to give me the chance to get in the ring and look at him for real than I was about to fight. You understand me? I want to be there and see what that would have been like. Because like I said, after I won the heavyweight title, I made it plain and clear that the only person that I would stay at the heavyweight for was Mike Tyson.

10:56Mike, right. Well, but how does that work, though, at that age and for an exhibition? If I'm not mistaken, y 'all fought two minute rounds? Or did y 'all fight through it? Two minute rounds. Ten two minute rounds, I believe, right? Yep. How's the training different for something like that? How do you turn on for something like that? Well, you turn it on because, you know, first of all, they said, listen, because y 'all both are older. If we see y 'all trying to tear each other head off, we're going to stop it. So that was cool. They said that? They said that. So that was cool to hear that. But Mike don't know how to play Mike like a pit bulldog.

11:31I didn't see nobody not trying to tear nobody's head off. I seen Mike don't know how to play. I didn't see that getting played out. I told him Mike don't know how to play. I heard what they were saying, but Mike don't know how to play. So I got up on bad knees and still ran three miles every morning because I knew that my knees and legs need to be in shape enough to get away from this dude because he ain't going to go out there listening to what they say. You understand me? First time he hit me in my chest, it felt like a mule had kicked me in the chest. I said, oh, my God, this dude can punch.

12:00Okay. Well, I expected that he could punch, but I didn't know that he still had that kind of power at 54 years old. What round was that? That was the first round. Very first round. I said, okay, okay. Then, I think about the second or third round, I hit him with a hook. And he was like, okay, good shot. Because he knew, I mean, you kept coming. Then about the fourth or the fifth round, he took the laces and laced me in the face. Dude, nobody sees this kind of stuff. Because the ref don't know what he's looking at for real. Because it was supposed to be an exhibition. But this dude really doing some crazy.

12:30He did it on purpose? Yes! This Mike, Mike don't know how to play. Come on, man. You understand me? Mike said, come here, Mike. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it blew my mind. But yeah, it was fun. Did you get ready, though? Yeah, of course. Did you leave home for that, or did you stay home for that? Well, the California PA ain't got ready for real. This is Mike Tyson we're talking about. We're not talking about somebody like I said. They say what they want to say. This dude is Mike Tyson. You understand what I mean? So, and I'm not saying don't do this, don't do that. No, I want to see how it's going to be anyway.

13:00So I want to get ready so I can read your mind, too, and see how it's going to be. You understand what I'm coming from? Can I get my red hat set off? Man, I like for me again, I said this. I said this. Couple weeks ago on the show, I said, man, it's not too many boxing purists that are that are that are more purist than me. Like, I really understand the game. I appreciate the game. But. Most of these exhibitions, I don't have a problem with like to your point about a matchup that didn't happen, then I can reimagine. OK, I know they older, but I want to see what happens. I want to see what type of shape Roy come in at 51.

13:40See what type of shape Mike can get in at 54. And it ain't never a bad idea to make some money at that stage in your life, in your career. I just feel like if guys and gave you 30, 40, 50, 60 real fights, like if there's a matchup that we can have that can spark the interest of the people and we can do numbers. even if it's Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. You can't tell me even if it's Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. Mike Tyson and the majority of them, Jake brought what he brought to the dance, but Mike brought what he brought. That's Mike Tyson. That's Iron Mike Tyson. And Mike was a genius with them 30-second clips they was putting out leading up to that fight, boy.

14:24Mike had you thinking he was back, you know, and he was back to a point, But that age won't let you sustain that intensity and that ferocity that you're showing. But if you can do that at a certain age, let guys get their money. They've already given you the show 40, 50, 60 times out. If I can get something that can spark the public's interest, why not? I don't have a problem with it. Yeah, I don't really have a problem with it. Like I said, the reason I said I'm really not interested is because, like I said, they would have never fought in their day. So I didn't want to see that. because... Tamar Mayweather-Tyson.

14:59Yeah, that's why I say I'm not interested because they never would have fought in their day. It just would not have happened. So it's like, that's the only reason I say I'm not really intrigued about that one. If it's a boxer and a person that don't box and like Tank and Jake Paul, for instance, and they got such a big weight gap, now that makes it kind of even on the exhibition scale. You feel me? So now we want to see... One got experience and one got weight inside the bench. You feel me? So now it makes us want to see what's going to happen with this. He's bigger, but he has experience experience that makes for a good exhibition because everybody wants to know what's gonna happen you understand me but when it's like even he great but he older but he way bigger he great but he younger and but he way smaller it's kind of is he really gonna come in and try to kill him and if he did do that what would people think about him you understand where I'm coming from so it's like for me it's a no win for Mike because you come out of Smash Floyd people gonna say why would you do that to him you know you're a heavyweight he ain't never been on heavyweight.

15:58You feel me? If Florida comes out of the outbox Mike, okay, they would live with that, but Mike can't win. If he wins, he's not going to be good. If he loses, he's not going to be good. So there's no win for Mike. So it's like for me... But Mike is going to win, though. I understand. He is going to win that, but what I'm saying for me is the money he'll win, yes, but outside of that, everything else is a loss. And like they say to me... I don't think he cares, though, at this point. He probably don't, but all money ain't good money. But he probably don't care. I really don't think If Mike can survive All the stuff that was said about him Leading up to the Jake Paul fight And after After was way worse You know because Mike The marketing Wait wait wait wait So do you want to go through that again Who Mike does Mike want to go through that again If he don't care He going through it right now You saw the reaction with the Floyd With the Floyd Mayweather announcement and they ain't even fully announced it.

16:57They just put the artwork out. So you set yourself up to go through that same thing again. Is the money really worth it? I don't think he cares. Okay, if you don't care, it's cool. If you don't care, it's cool. Mike is a business, man. That's fine. That's fine. That's what I think. Okay. So if he's a businessman, he's going to win at the bank, but he's going to lose in the ring. That's quite obvious if you're a businessman. I really don't think he can. I was saying, but now you gave me the outcome, which is what we can't expect anyway. So why am I going to pay to watch this? Yeah. Maybe it's the little kid in me.

17:33The fan, the boxing fan. I know Floyd is older. I know Mike is older. But I want to see what happens. I want to see how this thing play out. That's me. So even when I look at Javante Davis and Jake Paul, the size differential is enough where Jake Paul is good enough. where people say, oh, he's terrible. Jake Paul is not a world-class fighter. I don't care how a person feel about that. Fighters that started in their formative years, like we did, 8, 9, 10, we got too much time in. Jake will never catch up to that. He'll never catch up to that. We just got too much time in. But I've always tipped the hat to him because he is in the gym with a real boxing team.

18:22I know the BJ Flores, Jay Leon Love and a few others he got in there and he's got real fighters in there he's getting the black eyes he's getting the marks he's trying to become better and he's respectable enough where if you if you foolish you can't get knocked out you can't get hurt with that right hand I don't know if he's gonna land that with Javante Davis but but the size difference is enough where if he does land he can hurt Javante but Javante has been fighting bigger guys and sparring bigger guys his whole life that's what people don't understand they keep talking about weight classes are there for a reason that's true but some guys and I said this about Crawford some guys been beating up on big dudes for a long time they've been sparring light heavies and heavies for a long time this ain't nothing new now it's different right in a real situation like this they do have a um y 'all keep me honest on this i think they went up on the gloves the side the size of the gloves are bigger than they normally would be um but on the javante piece man javante he went life and death with lamont roach in his last fight a lot of people thought that Lamont Roach was going to get knocked out as soon as he got touched right.

19:26Lamont Roach was telling people before the fight I know him like we came up together I know him this isn't going to be what you think it's going to be and Lamont Roach did his thing. It's controversy about the knee that Javante Davis took where the referee did not call he started to count but he did not count that that could have been and should have been the difference in that fight because he did take a voluntary need there was a lot of talk about the rematch what was reported initially was rematch first because Javante has to get some get back in a sense and restore his reputation even his fans hey bro we got to do better on this next one and I heard that the the exhibition with Jake Paul was going to be in November Lamont Roach business first then November then all of a sudden you start the Lamont Roach situation wasn't a thing anymore and it was just Jake Paul and I don't know if it's because the Anthony Joshua, Jake Paul situation fell out.

20:22Jake doubled back and was like, no, I need a dance partner. We got to get this now or it's not going to be available. Here's my take on Davis. I don't remember the last time that I've heard Javante Davis say, I'm in boxing to be the greatest fighter of all time. I can't remember. I've heard him say that he's better than certain guys in his weight class or this kid can't beat me. I've heard that. I can't remember. and maybe y 'all can keep me honest online. The last time I've heard Javante Davis talk about his legacy in the ring, like I'm building my legacy. I'm trying to outdo Floyd in a legacy.

21:00Like I think it started like that for him, but the influence of Floyd Mayweather, money man, not pretty boy, but the money man and building your brand and selling tickets and selling pay-per-views and becoming a household name, that's also a legacy. You got the legacy in the ring and you got the legacy in terms of how you sold. I believe Javante Davis is more focused on selling tickets and making money and securing his future for himself and his family. He said it out of his own mouth. I ain't got nothing else to prove. Well, depends on what your goal is. It depends on what you're trying to do.

21:35If you're trying to be one of the greatest fighters of all time, it's still a whole lot to prove. My point is, Roy, is I don't think, should everybody hold this man to the standard that they holding him to and say, you not fighting nobody. Yeah, you making money, but you ain't really fought nobody. If he don't even care about that, that's not even something that he's really focused on. If his main focus is the money and his main focus is getting out of boxing without getting hurt and retiring on his own terms, shouldn't his fan base and other people get on board with that if that's not even his goal?

22:08How can we hold him to something like that if he don't even hold himself to that? They definitely should get on board with that. They definitely should because, I mean, his mentor did basically the same thing. So why can't he do it? You know what I'm saying? He made more money than anybody. He was smarter than everybody. He didn't take too many stupid risks. That's what he did. And it worked for him. And people are okay with that and accepting it. So why can't Tank do it? Tank can do the same thing the mentor did. That's what the mentor is for, to teach you how to do this thing the smart way and not get you hurt, not have to take no risk, not to take many chances.

22:38So if that's what you learn, if that's the easy way out, why not do that? But y 'all gave him credit for us why y 'all can't give him credit for it? He can do the same thing that this guy did. Everybody had their own mentors, their own pound for pounds, their own people they want to be like. If he want to be like that guy that y 'all don't say is great and was one of the best ever, why can't he do it? So I'm cool with whatever he say he want to do. In my old days, no. That wouldn't work for me because that's not how I worked, but that's not how I grew up. That's not how my mentors grew up, but he is there, and that's what he saw, and it got him paid.

23:10So nowadays, most guys just want to get paid. They ain't really interested in all the legacy and being the best of their weight division or being the best, they ain't interested in that no more. So with their interest being thrown to the Wolves now, all this kind of stuff is cool because if your fan base is cool with it, then there it is. And if the fan base ain't cool with it, if you make a lot, if you make 50 to 100 million fighting Jake Paul, they'll be cool with it because they're cool with you making money. That's what the fan base is on now. They have put you just making money being good.

23:38Back in our day, they want to be cool with that. You had to prove you was the best. They thought you fought because you wanted to be the best of the division or the best of your era. They didn't think you fought for just money or just fame for being rich. Now you're fighting for fame just to be rich. That's how the game has changed. There's been a drastic shift. It's a shift, for sure. We don't care about being the GOAT in our weight class. We don't care about being a GOAT 10 years down, 20 years down the line. We don't care about that no more. And that's what people don't understand when I say stuff.

24:07This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about. Right now, I understand. I'm not on air and I know why I'm not on air. If somebody come in and say, hey, we're going to get rid of all these belts, make one title, do this, that takes away the history of all the hard things you and I work for. Right? Right? And we're not going to just sit there quietly and say, get rid of the IBF, get rid of the WBA, get rid of the WBC, get rid of the WBO. We're not going to go for that because that takes all the stuff we worked so hard and so diligently to do. Y 'all trying to erase that. So y 'all don't want to put me on the air because y 'all know I'm not going to be for that.

24:38I'm going to argue against it. which is cool. I'm not mad about it. I'm cool with that because I am going to stand on my two when it comes to me talking about me being a world champ. I want to be like Muhammad Ali. You understand me? I'm not going to lie about it. I can't tell you nothing, no difference. I want to be the best in my division. As a matter of fact, I want to be the best around my division. Not just in my division, even around my division, I want to be the best. Today's fighters, they have been taught that that's not the way to do it nowadays. Nowadays, go for the bag. So everybody is going for the bag.