Mike Tyson snorted and toiled, marched and conceded – and was ultimately a moral winner: on his return to the ring after 19 years, the boxing icon suffered a clear defeat on points against newcomer Jake Paul, who was not even half his age, In the duel that was hyped up to be a “mega fight” in front of 80,000 spectators in Dallas, he still survived eight rounds without being knocked down.
“I’m happy. I didn’t have to prove anything to anyone but myself,” said 58-year-old Tyson. The once most feared heavyweight brawler made an excellent physical impression given his age, but was far too slow and sedate to pose a serious threat to the 27-year-old Paul.
The “Youtuber”, who found professional boxing and has now won eleven of his twelve fights – all of them more of a show nature – always landed hard hits. According to statistics, Paul hit the target with 78 of 278 shots. Tyson, who last boxed in his loss to Kevin McBride in 2005, struck out just 97 times, scoring a measly 18 times.
“It was a great honor to box against such a legend. Mike is one of the greatest of all time and one of the toughest guys on the planet,” said Paul, who received a slap in the face after a small skirmish in the last meeting before the fight the day before from “Iron Mike”. “It was a good slap yesterday, I liked that,” Paul said after the fight.
Another fight against Paul’s brother planned?
Will Tyson now return to retirement? He still has a lot left in him, he said: “I don’t think it was my last fight,” he said. Jake Paul’s brother Logan, also a boxing YouTuber, would probably be available as an opponent. “Oh fuck, I’ll kill you,” the older Paul immediately said in the ring.
Financially, another fight would definitely be worthwhile – the two competitors are said to have collected around $40 million each for the fight, which was broadcast with much fanfare on the streaming portal Netflix.
Source: www.sport.de
