Youtuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul left a permanent stain on two-time heavyweight champion Mike Tyson’s boxing legacy with a tedious points win in front of 70,000 frustrated fans in Texas – and millions watching the controversial bout on streaming powerhouse Netflix.
Tyson, as you might expect from a man aged 58 and having not competed professionally in 19 years, was a shadow of his old self.
Paul, 27, is a boxing novice but was too young and too athletic. He kept Tyson at range, landing jabs and accurate punches in an eight-round contest of two-minute rounds.
Tyson was slow and sluggish. He received a hero’s reception before the fight, but there were huge boos as the fight drew to a close.
Some fans left before judges’ scores of 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73 were announced.
In an uncomfortable moment post-fight, Tyson, after his seventh pro loss in 57 bouts, called out Paul’s brother Logan and suggested he could fight again.
There were question marks on the legitimacy of this fight and how seriously both men would take it, but Tyson said he “came to fight”.
Both men wore heavier gloves with extra padding as part of the conditions set by the Texas commission, who sanctioned it as a pro fight – a decision which looks even more ludicrous post-fight.
Lighter gloves would have made no difference, no punches thrown even came close to a knockout.
Tyson landed only 18 punches in the entire fight, compared to Paul’s 78.
Paul made his celebrity name by posting prank videos online and amassing a social media following of 70 million before venturing into boxing.
He won his 11th pro fight, having lost to Tommy Fury last year, and once again reiterated his desire to fight Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
“He knows he wants a payday so he knows where the money is at,” Paul said.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but the result is no surprise and will embolden those critics who felt it made a mockery of boxing. Tyson said his heart was not in the sport following a loss to Kevin McBride in 2005.
From early on it was clear this was a man nearing his sixties, who still carried a little power but no stamina.
The general feeling was if Tyson was to win he would need to knock Paul out early and, though he landed a right hand in the first, Paul started connecting cleanly with jabs and wobbled Tyson with a left hand in the third.
Paul – said to be wearing the world’s most expensive shorts, which were encrusted with diamonds and worth $1m – began to pepper a man 31 years his senior.
Tyson, a black brace over his right knee, was making Paul miss with some head speed at times. He lunged in with a hook which missed by at least a foot in the fifth, illustrating just how much of a difference the age was making.
The veteran felt more damage in the seventh round as a left hook from Paul landed on the temple. By this point, most fans seemed eager to hear the final bell.
