ARLINGTON, Texas – In the buildup to Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson, there were questions about the Netflix boxing headliner being a real fight, particularly because it featured a 27-year-old squaring off against a 58-year-old.
For anyone who doubted the legitimacy of Paul vs. Tyson, despite the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation sanctioning it as a fully professional bout, Paul’s words following his unanimous decision win Friday night at AT&T Stadium will surely not sit well.
“Yeah, definitely a bit,” Paul told reporters at the post-fight press conference, when asked if he went easy on Tyson. “I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt someone that didn’t need to be hurt.”
Tyson got through the first two of eight, 2-minute rounds relatively OK. And during those combined first four minutes, the fight looked technical. But by the third round, Tyson began to look his age. He was slow and sloppy and hesitant, which allowed Paul to comfortably pick apart Tyson from distance.
As the seventh round got underway, most of the 70,000-plus fans in attendance were booing heavily. The fight ended with boos raining down on Paul and Tyson.
While Paul vs. Tyson is sure to have been one of, if not the most watched event in combat sports history, the immediate reaction on social media was negative.
Paul’s response?
“Thank you for everyone tuning in and coming. I tried to give the best fight I possibly could but when someone’s just surviving in the ring basically, it’s hard to make it exciting,” Paul said. “I couldn’t really get him to engage me or slip shots and do something super cool or whatever. But I don’t care what people have to say. They’re always gonna have something to say, and it is what it is.”
Paul’s manager, Nakisa Bidarian, also didn’t sweat the crticism, saying the fight was always going to be received negatively unless Tyson pulled out the victory.
“The only way that people would’ve been happy is if Jake lost somehow,” Bidarian said. “That would’ve been like, ‘Oh, what a great fight, Mike’s a legend.’ If he knocked out Mike Tyson, it would’ve been rigged. The fight went to eight rounds, so ‘Oh, Mike wasn’t trying. Oh, it wasn’t good enough.’ It was an unbelievable display between a 58-year-old legend and a 27-year-old relatively young boxer. And he actually outboxed the boxer. Jake Paul outboxed Mike Tyson like he said he was gonna do.”
Added Paul: “What can people say? I told everyone what I was gonna do is give him a boxing lesson.”
For more on the fight, visit MMA Junkie’s hub for Paul vs. Tyson.