YouTuber Jake Paul beats boxing legend Mike Tyson in heavyweight return
Mike Tyson’s controversial return to boxing ended in a one-sided defeat on Nov 15, with YouTuber-turned-prizefighter Jake Paul cruising to victory by unanimous decision against the heavyweight icon in Texas.
Tyson, 58, barely landed a punch during the eight-round bout at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, with Paul winning by big margins on all three cards – 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73.
Paul, 27, used his superior speed and movement to dominate the ageing Tyson with ease, and had the former undisputed heavyweight champion in trouble after landing a flurry of punches in the third round.
Yet the younger fighter was unable to land the knockout blow he had promised to deliver during the Nov 14 ill-tempered weigh-in, where Tyson slapped him across the face.
Tyson, however, looked every bit of his 58 years, managing to land only a handful of meaningful punches during the fight.
Final statistics showed Tyson connected with just 18 of 97 punches thrown while Paul threw some 278 punches and landed 78 of them.
As the final seconds of the eighth round counted down, Paul could even afford to bow in respect to Tyson before the bell sounded.
“First and foremost, Mike Tyson - it’s an honour to be able to fight him,” said Paul.
“It was as tough and hard as I thought it would be.”
Tyson, who wore a knee brace, never mounted much of a challenge after being wobbled by some left hands in the third round but did enough defensively to avoid taking any serious damage.
He admitted after the contest to fighting through a leg injury.
“Yeah, but I can’t use that as an excuse. If I did, I wouldn’t be in here,” Tyson said.
“I knew he was a good fighter. He was prepared, I came to fight. I didn’t prove nothing to anybody, only to myself. I’m not one of those guys that live to please the world. I’m just happy with what I can do.”
Tyson, one of the most fearsome heavyweight champions of all time during his heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was in his first professional fight in nearly 20 years. He was non-committal when asked if he would return to the ring again.
“I don’t know. It depends on the situation,” he said. – AFP, REUTERS
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