Jake Paul wins lopsided decision over Mike Tyson in lackluster Netflix main event
Jake Paul delivered on his promise to beat Mike Tyson but it wasn’t exactly the highlight reel performance he expected.
Instead, Paul spent the better part of eight rounds moving around the outside and peppering away with punches at a nearly immobile Tyson, who slowed down more and more with each passing round. When the fight ended, Paul had outlanded Tyson by a remarkable margin of 78-18, although there were no knockdowns or moments where it truly looked like the fight might come to a dramatic close.
Instead, Paul goes home with a unanimous decision win over the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion with the judges scoring the fight 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73 all for the Cleveland native.
“First and foremost, Mike Tyson … he’s a legend, he’s the greatest to ever do it,” Paul said after his latest win. “This man is an icon. It’s just an honor to be able to fight him.
“He’s an icon. He’s a legend. I love him. I love his family. It’s just an honor to be in the ring with all of them. I was trying to hurt him a little bit. I did my best.”
While Tyson obviously stuck around for all eight rounds, he looked every bit his age as he struggled to keep up with his younger opponent. He was definitely the fan favorite in the fight, however, and he made no excuses for his performance.
“Absolutely happy [with the fight],” Tyson said. “I knew he was a good fighter. I knew he was prepared. I came to fight. I didn’t prove nothing to anybody, only to myself. I’m just happy what I can do. He’s a very good fighter. Absolutely [he deserves respect].”
When the fight started it was Paul moving around the outside of the ring with Tyson marching forward looking to close the distance. Paul initially connected with the first hard punch in the fight as he launched a straight left that tagged Tyson directly on the chin.
From there, Paul started to establish his lead jab while he kept circling away from Tyson’s power. The legendary heavyweight decided to stand in front of Paul trying to draw him into an exchange but the always outspoken social influencer refused to get baited into a trap.
As the fight moved into the third round, Tyson came out aggressive but Paul made him pay for it with a barrage of left hands that rattled the veteran heavyweight. To his credit, Tyson hung in there but Paul was really starting to measure his combinations with no real fear of reprisal.
Paul’s confidence was surging as he took the center of the ring and started peppering away at Tyson, who was largely immobile and not really producing much offense at all. While Paul was still in control, he refused to overextend himself but he also wasn’t in much danger as Tyson was resigned to reserve as much energy as possible.
While Tyson was barely moving on a dodgy right leg, Paul wasn’t doing much beyond throwing a few straight punches with the crowd crowing restless inside AT&T Stadium.
Tyson did his best to lunge forward with a couple of power punches just to keep Paul honest but he wasn’t really putting much force behind his strikes. Paul responded with more jabs in Tyson’s face but he never really unleashed his signature right hand in an attempt to produce the knockout.
Maybe that really was for the best considering the concerns over Tyson competing at his age, although he didn’t shut the door on doing it again under the right circumstances.
“I don’t know. It depends on the situation,” Tyson said about fighting again. “I don’t think so [that it’s the last one].”
As for Paul, he moves to 11-1 in his career with the win over Tyson and love him or hate him, he helped produce what will ultimately become one of the most watched combat sports events of all-time thanks to 282 million worldwide subscribers on Netflix. When it comes to what’s next, Paul didn’t call out anybody by name but instead touted the huge attraction he shared with Tyson with the monumental event on Friday night.
“Anyone I want,” Paul said about his next opponent. “This is the biggest event, over 120 million people on Netflix, we crashed the site. Everyone is next on the list.”