Former four division world champion Roy Jones Jr. has called for a crossover boxing match with mixed martial arts (MMA) legend Fedor Emelianenko.
Emelianenko, in a recent interview with The MMA Hour, said that he would like to have a boxing match against former undisputed world champion Mike Tyson.
“We watched the fight on TV of Roy Jones Jr. vs. Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson would be an interesting fight,” Emelianenko said.
“He has a big name, he’s a legend. … It would be interesting because you can see a lot of his videos on YouTube and all over the place, he’s still in good shape. He still works pads, he still has that same power.”
Jones believes a fight with Emelianenko would be a major event in Eastern Europe.
“Fedor doesn’t need to box against Mike Tyson. He needs to finally fight me. I’m sure it will be an incredibly big event. We are both Russian athletes, it will be very interesting,” Jones said to Tass.
Emelianenko, 46 years old, has 40 wins and 7 losses in mixed martial arts. The MMA veteran is a former champion of the Pride, Rings and WAMMA organizations, a four-time world champion and a nine-time Russian champion in combat sambo. At the moment, Emelianenko heads the MMA Union of Russia.
Jones is still looking to compete at 54 years old. On July 1, he lost a close decision to Anthony Pettis in a boxing match. Jones was a world champion at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. In 1988, he captured a silver medal at the Olympic Games.
Back in 2015, Jones generated a mountain of headlines by becoming a Russian citizen.
At the time, Jones has cited the country’s large “community of boxers” and the fact that he is beloved there as reasons he chose to become an official citizen. In order to obtain citizenship, Jones met with Putin in the pro-Russian Ukrainian territory of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Jones staged four of his career fights on Russian soil.