Jake Paul is set to fight former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in a boxing match that will be livestreamed on Netflix, on July 20, from the AT&T Stadium in Texas:
“It’s crazy to think that in my second pro fight, I went viral for knocking out Nate Robinson on Mike Tyson’s undercard,” Paul said. “Now, less than four years later, I’m stepping up to face Tyson myself to see if I have what it takes to beat one of boxing’s most notorious fighters and biggest icons. Within just two and a half years of founding MVP, we’re about to produce the biggest fight in history, a fight in the biggest NFL stadium in the US, broadcast live, on the biggest streaming platform in the world – a testament to all we’ve accomplished in such a short amount of time. Whether you’re tuning in on Netflix or showing out in person, whether you’re team Paul or team Tyson, or whether you’re a lifelong boxing fan or watching your first fight, you’re not going to want to miss this event. I could not be more excited to make this amazing fight available to all Netflix subscribers alongside the hardest hitter of all time, Mike Tyson, on Saturday, July 20th. My sights are set on becoming a world champion, and now I have a chance to prove myself against the greatest heavyweight champion ever, the baddest man on the planet and the most dangerous boxer of all time. This will be the fight of a lifetime.”
“I’m very much looking forward to stepping into the ring with Jake Paul at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas,” Tyson said. “He’s grown significantly as a boxer over the years, so it will be a lot of fun to see what the will and ambition of a ‘kid’ can do with the experience and aptitude of a GOAT. It’s a full circle moment that will be beyond thrilling to watch; as I started him off on his boxing journey on the undercard of my fight with Roy Jones and now I plan to finish him.”
Assuming the fight is real and not either:
a) A glorified sparring match
or
b) Fixed
Then this could actually be fascinating to watch. Despite his advanced age (57), Tyson still has astonishing speed and power and if you rewatch his recent fight with Roy Jones Jr. from 4 years ago it’s fairly obvious that he was pulling his punches and, “playing,” at times, not taking advantage of openings he created, particularly on the separation where his Peek a Boo style is most deadly — which makes sense given the advanced age of both boxers.
Tyson weighed in at 220lbs. for his fight vs RJJ, and Jake Paul generally weighs in at ~185lbs. At higher weight classes older fighters remain competitive much longer, as proven by Big George Foreman during his second Heavyweight title run, which began a decade after his first retirement and lasted a whole additional decade, taking him into 1997. This took the champ’s professional career to the ripe old age of nearly 49 where he managed to lose a Majority Decision in his last fight, against a 26 year old future champ with a 29-1 record, on a 4 fight win-streak named Shannon Briggs. Briggs himself remained competitive well into his 40′s, with 2 championship wins.
Jake Paul is no Shannon Briggs, he doesn’t have the experience or the weight, but he does have an impressive skillset for a guy who only started boxing 6 years ago. Granted, it is mostly against tomato cans, grapplers, or fighters he can weight bully. Notably his one loss came from Tommy Fury, a professional boxer and fellow young cruiserweight who managed to win a Split Decision over Paul, giving a good metric as to his genuine boxing abilities (capable of hanging with a semi-professional/early professional boxer).
The point being, this has the potential to be a real fight, and a competitive one at that, for the nearly geriatric Tyson. To those discounting Tyson due to his age, I would argue you haven’t sat down and really looked at the facts.
Fighters lose speed first, stamina second, power and skill way later. Are audiences that desperate for a Great White Hope, this might at least make money.
Bruce,
With the likes of Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury sitting atop the HW division, and the ghosts of the Klitschko brothers still fresh in everyone’s memories, I don’t much see the demand in the present boxing market for a, “Great White Hope,” the quota’s been more than filled.
I suspect it’s more the nostalgia to see Tyson work again than anything else. Everyone knows he held back against RJJ, what might it look like if he didn’t? The mystery is just too enticing, and with the added bonus of potentially seeing Jake Paul finally KO’d I’d say this sells phenomenally well.