Overview:
Hello Bard students! We’ve all heard about it, we’ve all seen it, and we all have thoughts on the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight. This boxing match stormed the internet on November 15, 2024 with 108 million viewers worldwide. The fight was held in Arling, Texas at the AT&T Stadium, contested with eight 2-minute rounds with both fighters equipped with 14-ounce gloves.
Fighting out of the Blue Corner was multi-platform influencer and entrepreneur, with a fighting record of 10-1 and 7 knockouts, Jake Paul.
Fighting out of the Red Corner, the youngest heavyweight champion in the world at age 20 in 1986, with a record of 50-6, 44 KOs, the “baddest man on the planet:” Iron Mike Tyson!
The fight concluded with a unanimous decision from three judges, scoring 80-72, 79-73, and 79-73 in the favor of Jake Paul.
Fight Results:
The people have spoken and made their stance clear as day! The mass majority of spectators are hugely disappointed in Tysons’ defeat, claiming it was unjust, unfair, and possibly even rigged. One speaker quotes “I’m not even going to call this a fight. It looked like two guys who really didn’t want to get hit because they already had their paychecks. Glad it was free.” Another viewer reported, “Tyson is 58 but looked 78. No mobility whatsoever. Paul barely broke a sweat and earned a big payday. The women’s world title fight that preceded this one was by far the highlight of the night.”. One thing is for sure, we knew what would happen, but we were all desperately hoping to see “Iron Mike Tyson deliver one more knockout,” as another viewer said. During a pre-fight interview, Jake Paul also mentioned that he expected to make $40 million while Tyson would make $20 million.
The students at Bard have also inputted into this conversation, one student commenting “To be honest, I didn’t like the fight at all. It was just this older individual past his prime, suffering a knee injury fighting a person in his prime. If Mike Tyson wasn’t injured, I feel as if the fight could have gone a different way.” Another student says “I didn’t watch it because it was just gonna be fake, like no way any of that was gonna be real.”
Professional fighters were torn apart by the results of this fight. Some supported Mike Tyson, like PFL and Bellator women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, who tweeted “Let’s go Uncle Mike. 58 years old. Win or lose we are team Mike forever.” While Terence Crawford took a more blunt approach, saying, “I love Mike Tyson, but they are giving him too much credit. He looked like trash, to train that long and only throw 97 punches the whole fight is crazy. I’m just glad he didn’t get hurt out there.”
The people made their point. But what do the fighters have to say about all this? Jake Paul admits to not putting his full effort into the fight, claiming “I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt someone that didn’t need to be hurt.””I tried to give the best fight I possibly could, but when someone’s just surviving in the ring, it’s hard to make it exciting. I couldn’t really get him to engage me or slip shots and do something super cool.” On another note, Mike Tyson was allegedly offered $700 million dollars by Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh to win a rematch against Jake Paul.
In a post-fight interview, Mike Tyson stated that this may not be the last we see of him in the boxing world. Who will he fight next? Where will his journey take him? Do you think it’s appropriate to box at 58 years old? Stay tuned, and keep your eyes open for Iron Mike Tyson!