Forget, if you can, that sad and limited group of considerations that say two fighters from different sports and weight classes can never meet in anger. Disregard the idea that says, “It would never happen because…”
This kind of thinking has no place in the Theater of the Bizarre.
Instead, once again, let your imagination run wild. This is a stage where fights unfold due to the virtue of violence, and two authors come together to do their worst to each other, just to see who is best.
Of course, there is always at least one caveat per fight. Perhaps it is the size of the gloves or the duration of the rounds. Perhaps it is the number of rounds, the venue or even the application of rules that reign in contrast to the combatants.
At least one circumstance always prevails amid the chaos.
The bout in question this evening? The legendary Mike Tyson, rejuvenated and resurrected from his most glorious and violent past, faces Junior dos Santos. The action is called in typical play-by-play style.
Mike Tyson vs. Junior dos Santos
Caveats: Four-ounce gloves; 12 rounds; three minutes per round; no grappling on the ground; takes place in the legendary Blue Horizon.
Advantages for Tyson: Speed, punching power, defensive skills, aggression, explosiveness.
Advantages for Dos Santos: Heart, reach advantage, size advantage, elbows, knees and kicks.
It’s a brutally cold night in Philadelphia, with a wind-chill factor that lowers the temperature well below freezing. The snow feels like sand across your face as you make your way up the front steps and into one of the true hallmark locations for the sport of boxing, the legendary Blue Horizon.
Inside, the temperature is warm, and the crowd is anxious for the fight to begin. This is the Blue Horizon, after all, where the crowd has high expectations for aggression.
Larry Merchant, a Philadelphia standard, is in attendance, but the rest of the crowd is a motley crew. The balcony level of the Horizon extends almost to the parameter of the ring, and if you lean over the rail, you can almost spit onto the canvas or throw whatever is in your hand.
It is a sobering sight to see a prime Mike Tyson pacing about the cage. This isn’t the same fighter who lost his desire and with it all sense of dedication to training and discipline. This is the young Tyson who ripped through the heavyweight division with shockingly fast hands, brutal punching power and unbridled aggression.
This is the Tyson who was the full realization of all the virtues that Cus D’Amato felt made a fighter great.
Across the small ring stands Junior dos Santos, looking grim and determined in the face of such an eager crowd. He, too, is pacing, perhaps not as much as Tyson, but he is moving and seems fully aware of the task in front of him.
It is a big one.
Dos Santos wanted to fight a great boxer because, as Merchant put it: “He has the daring that is required of all true fighters. He isn’t just talking the talk, he’s walking the walk, and that brought him all the way to Philadelphia in the heart of a snow storm. He wanted to test his boxing skills against a dangerous opponent, and tonight he gets his wish.”
While Tyson is expected to be the faster fighter, Dos Santos is clearly the bigger man in the ring, which becomes clear when the referee calls them to the center. Dos Santos looks to be about six inches taller than Tyson and has six inches in reach over the Brooklyn-born legend. Yet, despite the size advantage, one cannot help but stare in horror at those incredibly small gloves that surround the granite fists of Tyson.
Both men touch gloves and go to their separate corners. Dos Santos is bouncing in place, ready to go. Tyson stares at him, emotionless, with his fists together right below his chin.
The crowd is going insane as the bell is about to ring…