Holyfield-Tyson deal on the ropes after talks collapse

Evander Holyfield said on the weekend that plans for an exhibition rubber match against fellow former undisputed world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson have been mothballed－at least for the time being.

The 58-year-old Holyfield, who retired in 2011 with a record of 44-10-2 (29 KOs), will instead return on June 5 against Ireland's Kevin McBride (35-10-1) in an exhibition clash on the undercard of IBF lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez's mandatory title defense against George Kambosos.

Triller will broadcast the card on worldwide pay-per-view.

Holyfield stopped Tyson in 11 rounds in 1996 and beat him by disqualification in three rounds in 1997, when Tyson infamously bit off a piece of his ear.

McBride, 47, retired in 2011. He stopped Tyson in six rounds in 2005, sending Iron Mike into retirement.

"Promoters started talking about an exhibition and how much money I could possibly get. So they made it kind of interesting that possibly a fight between Mike and I could be a big one," Holyfield told boxingscene.com.

"And with the pandemic situation going on, people are looking for things to watch at home and all that. With the amount of money they were talking about paying me to do an exhibition, I thought, 'Oh wow, OK.'

"So I told them I was interested, but I didn't want to ask Mike myself because I have beaten Mike twice, and I think if I asked him myself it would make me kind of a bully trying to fight somebody that I have beaten twice already. But if somebody got him to call me and he said he wants to do it, then I would.

"His people talked (with mine) two different times. I don't necessarily think it was him that pulled out. I think in general it was a lot about the money. And so when you've got a lot of money, you've got all these different people with you and they start thinking about how they could get paid. So, of course, it's not going to be that way.

"I'm being cautious. I'm not going up against somebody who is 22, 30 or 35. I'm going up against Kevin McBride who is in his late 40s. It's a good matchup. I will beat him. As for Mike, like I said, if he wants to do it later I still want to fight him."

Meanwhile, the upcoming undisputed heavyweight title clash between Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) and Anthony Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs), which is close to the finish line on a site deal, will be delivered via ESPN+ pay-per-view in the United States, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, who is also Fury's co-promoter, told boxingscene.com.

Joshua's last four fights have been shown on streaming service DAZN in the US, but that will not be the case for the fight with Fury. As for the United Kingdom, the home of both fighters, Arum said it will also be on pay-per-view－but with a twist.

"Obviously, the big market is the UK, where everyone is saying it will do three million homes," Arum said. "Sky and BT both will have it on pay-per-view."

Sky Sports is where Joshua has an exclusive deal for his fights in the UK and Fury's fights are on BT Sport.

The promoter said the site for the fight likely will be a new indoor stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, although the precise location has not yet been decided.

"We have (site deal) contracts now that we are marking up and so forth," Arum said. "It's a big step. We're just doing the paperwork now with the Saudis."

Arum also confirmed a report that the fight will take place on one of three dates: July 24, July 31 or Aug 7.