ROY JONES JR is vowing to give 45-year-old UFC whippersnapper Anderson Silva a dream shot – if he can first prove he’s more nifty over 50 than Mike Tyson.
Former four-weight world champion Jones Jr, 51, takes on 54-year-old ex-heavyweight king Tyson in an exhibition comeback bout on September 12.
Jones is then keen to meet former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion Silva – a decade after they both promised the boxing showdown.
He told MMA Fighting: “He always wanted to make a fight with me.
“They just never allowed him the opportunity to do it, or they never had the right time to do it
“We both gave our words that if we ever got the opportunity, we would.
‘MIKE’S A KILLER’
“I did give him my word that if the opportunity came, I would, so after this fight, he could get it.”
Before that, though, Jones admits facing Tyson is “risky” – calling him a “strong lion” with a “cheetah mentality”.
So Jones believes he must stay out of danger early on to become king of the half-centurions’ jungle after fellow American Tyson tires.
He said: “Not only does Mike look like a killer, Mike is a killer, but the whole thing people need to realise is, Mike is a killer, not a cheetah.
“Mike’s got to go kill quick, if he don’t kill quick he got problems on his hands.
“He’s good early, he’s still a strong lion, but he’s got a cheetah mentality.
“A cheetah mentality means… if he don’t get it quick, it belongs to me.”
