Vyron Phillips wants to make the most out of his opportunity of a lifetime on Sunday when he meets former champion Roy Jones Jr. at UR Fight.
Vyron Phillips has the opportunity of a lifetime on Sunday evening when he squares off with boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. in one of the four main events of UR Fight in Phoenix, Arizona. Phillips is a 33-year old mixed martial artist and boxer from Minneapolis, Minnesota with a pro-MMA record of 7-2. He has amateur boxing experience but will be making his pro-boxing debut tonight against one of the greatest boxers of all time.
This wasn’t your typical fight announcement/setup, however. The UR Fight organization ran a contest to see who would fight the boxing legend with $100,000 on the line. Phillips received the most votes and found out he’d be stepping inside the ring to meet one of his idols on less than two weeks notice.
“I heard somebody talking about it, so I went online and saw it,” he told BloodyElbow.com’s Nick Baldwin on MMAjr Radio. “‘A fan can fight Roy Jones.’ So I put my name in, and I did my video, and I ended up making it down to the top four. And I was like, ‘Oh, I made the top four but I’m not going to get the most fans against these guys here.’ Next thing I know I won the vote for the fans and that was like nine days, so once we found out I won, it was like nine days away, so I was like ‘Oh shit, it’s real, it’s about to go down.’ I got into the gym — I always stay in shape, I’m always ready to fight, I try to fight every month. But you know boxing is a different sport on its own — different conditioning, different cardio, so I had to get into the gym and change the way I train, to prepare as much as I can for a boxing match.
“They were like, ‘Okay, the fan voting has until like three days later, and the person with the most votes, they’re going to be the one that fights him. But you still gotta pass all the information and that stuff.’ So at the end of the last day I had the most votes, and they emailed me and said okay, ‘We gotta check your votes and make sure they weren’t spam.’ So I was like, ‘Oh man, were they spam? I don’t know.’ So they contacted me again saying, ‘Your votes are clear, you’re good to go, you’re fighting him in nine days.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh wow, this is getting serious.’ But I was still kind of like, ‘It might not happen,’ because I was reading the internet and social media saying it’s not going to happen. [But then Roy Jones Jr. posted] on his Instagram that he’s fighting, so I was like, ‘Okay, this is real, we’re fighting.'”
As a relatively unknown fighter, defeating Jones and earning a grand paycheck of $100,000 would be everything for the former University basketball star.
“That $100,000 means a lot to me, it’ll help me in my situation right now. To me, it’s a life changer. [When I got into the sport], I wanted to fight the best. I remember growing up watching Roy Jones when he was boxing, I wanted to be like him. He was one of my idols, he’s still one of my idols. I honestly believe that I’m a boxer at heart. So that’s why to me taking a boxing fight isn’t as bizarre as people think. I’m actually a pretty good boxer. Fighting Roy Jones, even though he’s older, and as a fan I want him to retire sooner or later, but as a fighter I’m glad he didn’t, because he gave me this opportunity. And by him giving me this opportunity, my life has changed over night. Just by him accepting this fight, my life has changed and I’m forever grateful. I’ll fight my ass off, and fight my heart out, but I’m still grateful he gave me this fight.”
Phillips has made it very clear he grew up watching Jones in his prime in some of the biggest championship fights in boxing history. He understands, despite Jones’ age, this will be the toughest fight of his career but he still believes he can leave the arena on Sunday victorious.
“I think my speed, my power and my explosiveness is going to be something different to him, and also my mind. I’m really smart when it comes to combat sports. I see the fight playing out as him coming out and either rushing and trying to get me out of there right away or coming out and playing chess. I can see the fight playing out 100 different ways, but every 100 ways it plays out, I see my hand getting raised. No disrespect to the champ, but I feel it’s my time and I’m meant to be here.”
If Phillips defeats Jones, he will likely get some massive offers from boxing and MMA organizations alike. Phillips has some definite plans for post-UR Fight.
“I think after the fight, if I get some boxing offers, I’ll definitely take those. My heart is at MMA, but I love boxing as well. I honestly want to call out everybody that wants to fight Roy Jones Jr. I want to fight the top guys, especially the guys talking trash at him, and I want to make a run at both sports, boxing and MMA.”