Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. aren’t the only major boxers to fight into their 50s. Here a five others who did it.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DAZN.com.
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Fifty-four-year-old Mike Tyson will face 51-year-old Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition this Saturday at Staples Center in Los Angeles. But it won’t be the first time former world champions have stepped into the ring at such an advanced age.
Tyson and Jones will compete over eight two-minute rounds in a contest not officially recognized as a professional boxing bout, but other evergreen fighters have competed at a high level — even sometimes in world title fights.
Jones himself last competed in a sanctioned bout in 2018 at the age of 49 with a unanimous-decision victory over an overwhelmed Scott Sigmon. But here are five fighters who went even longer.
ROBERTO DURAN
Less than a month after his 50th birthday, Duran (103-16, 70 KOs) stepped between the ropes for what would be the final time in his professional career.
Duran, a former four-weight world champion and undisputed lightweight kingpin, notched two consecutive wins in the year 2000 against Americans Pat Lawlor and Patrick Goossen, both via unanimous decision and the former taking place on his 49th birthday. The following year, “Manos de Piedra” went one step further.
In a rematch against Hector “Macho” Camacho at super middleweight, Duran tried — and failed — to avenge a defeat to Camacho from five years prior. Camacho, himself approaching 40, was ruled the winner by all three ringside judges, as he was in 1996 at middleweight.
BOB FITZSIMMONS
Old-time slugger Fitzsimmons was boxing’s first ever three-weight world champion and the lightest-ever heavyweight champ at just 165 pounds. And in 1914, the Brit went out with a win at the age of 51.
His six-round victory over Jersey Bellew on Feb. 20 at the Municipal Hall in South Bethlehem, Penn., came via “newspaper decision,” a common designation at the time that was determined by a consensus of sportswriters in attendance in regions that had not yet adopted the National Sporting Club of London’s rules regarding judges and referees.
BERNARD HOPKINS
“The Executioner” was 51 years, 337 days old when he was stopped in the eighth of 12 scheduled rounds by Joe Smith Jr. in a fight for a minor light heavyweight title on Dec. 17, 2016. But though he lost his final two bouts to Sergey Kovalev and Smith, Hopkins will forever be remembered as one of the sport’s timeless greats.
Hopkins not only fought into his late 40s and early 50s, he became the oldest to win a major title at age 46 before breaking his own record twice in 2013 and 2014.
LARRY HOLMES
Former heavyweight champion Holmes fought twice in his 50s. The first time was on Nov. 17, 2000, when he halted Mike Weaver in Round 6 in Biloxi, Miss.
Then, on July 27, 2002, “The Easton Assassin” called it a day in unique style. The 52-year-old won a 10-round decision over legendary sideshow fighter Eric “Butterbean” Esch, who weighed 300-plus pounds, at the Norfolk Scope in Virginia. It left Holmes with a final record of 69-6 (44 KOs).
JACK JOHNSON
The trailblazing Texan and first African-American world heavyweight champion continued to compete until the ripe of age of 60. Yes, 60!
Johnson lost to Walter Price via seventh-round KO in his final professional fight, though he continued to compete in short exhibitions known as “cellar fights” for private audiences until the age of 67 in order to make a living. He died at 68 in a car crash in North Carolina.
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