The Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight was a disappointment

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For many, the fight between professional boxer, Youtuber, and actor Jake Paul and former undisputed world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was a highly anticipated event. 

On Nov. 15, Netflix live-streamed the match from Texas’s AT&T Stadium to 108 million people worldwide. While I had been looking forward to this fight ever since it was announced in the spring, after watching it, I found it very underwhelming. 

While the preliminary fights were entertaining, the main event failed to deliver in the sense that it seemed scripted. It felt as though Tyson was paid to take a dive. From watching his training videos, it’s obvious that he has the capability to knock Paul out, but held back. The energy he displayed while training was missing in the ring. 

Out of all the eight rounds, Tyson was definitely the strongest in the first one. He landed many powerful punches, but as the rounds progressed, he was clearly getting fatigued. 

One of the commentators, who is a former boxer, said the only way Paul could win was using his speed as an advantage. He explained that Tyson would get tired as the rounds moved on and become slower. In the end, Paul won by unanimous decision. 

Many say that the fight isn’t fair because of the age gap — Paul being 27 while Tyson is 58 — but I would say this factor did not play that big of a part in the fight. Even though a 31-year gap is a lot, Tyson has been doing this long before Paul was even born. If Tyson was in his prime, Paul, who has only been boxing for about five years, wouldn’t stand a chance.

Before the event, I was betting Tyson would win because of his decades of experience. However, as the rounds went on, I was shocked to see how they were hardly doing anything, merely going back and forth trying to throw punches with zero effort. 

I kept wondering, “Why isn’t he trying to knock him out?” The second Paul won, I knew it had to be a set up. There was no way it could have naturally ended up being such a close fight with one of the greatest boxers of all time in the ring. 

It took me too long to realize that this event was a PR stunt. They did it just to look good and get paid. It has been reported that Paul received $40 million while Tyson got half that amount for the fight. 

When I found this out, I was a bit disappointed. I think it would have been much more entertaining if they had both put in their best effort and treated this like an actual match. 

Even though it hardly counts, this fight will definitely be a turning point for Paul. I’m sure it will only go up from here, boosting his career as a professional boxer. On the other hand, I don’t think Tyson needs to re-retire, at least for now.  But if he does, he will always be known as “Iron Mike.”