by No love, no love, the gloves are big and the rounds will be short when Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fight on Friday night.
It won’t make any difference if the men share fifty million dollars for their carnival night in the Texas ring. It is one of the best money fights in the dirty boxing game; it’s not personal, it’s just cash. And, lots of it.
Tyson is now 58, reformed, gray around the edges, his eyes softened by his belly and sounds fake with every attempt to pluck a genius. Well, it probably is, so what? Iron Mike was once the youngest heavyweight champion in history, so please show some respect.
Paul, in his own unique way, has single-handedly ruined the boxing careers of many UFC stars and exposed them inside the boxing ring as flat-footed speedsters; now the former child actor is hunting down the faded kings of the ring. It’s the unmade Rocky movie with a twist: can the old king beat the young kid? It’s the old boxing legend.
It was clearly called a freak show, a meaningless event, a danger to Tyson’s health and a threat to the dignity of boxing, after it was rearranged after Tyson was scared. Don’t get me wrong: there’s nothing more sinister than a money exercise and no chance of Tyson getting hurt. The referee, his corner or the boxer will stop the fight – due to exhaustion – before Paul’s fists inside the 14 oz gloves can hurt the faded icon. There is always a chance that Tyson lands and Paul is left asleep; he would become the 45th man in 51 victories to stop or knock out Tyson.
This is the Tyson who has won and lost world titles and been involved in some of the brightest, funniest and most embarrassing fights in sport. Paul just has an eye for social media people; it’s a real prospect, but there are limits to the hype.
This is the same Tyson who cut off and dropped a drop of blood from Evander Holyfield’s ear, slapped Lennox Lewis on his thigh and threatened to eat the British boxer’s children, and the same Tyson who tried to break Frans Botha’s hand break. He has been fighting freaks and at the center of the circus since he was a teenager.
This is not his first moon ride, not the first time his fame has drawn a huge crowd. On Friday, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, a crowd of over 60,000 will watch one of the final acts of Mike Tyson’s extraordinary career. It will be there for the millions watching on Netflix, the new home of carnival fights, a chance to see the great man once again. So far, all the clips of Tyson in the gym, looking fierce, mean and fast on the pads, last only two or three seconds.
In 2020, Tyson fought an exhibition with Roy Jones Jr. It was predictable, slow at times, but it remained interesting because much of the fearsome fighter was left in the old man in the ring. He’s older now, but Jones Jr. isn’t Paul. It could be choreographed, it could be real, it could be an unholy combination of the two.
There is no avoiding Paul and his demands. He has spoken boldly about the greatness of the boxing ring, talked about fighting legends and instead focused on fallen UFC fighters, men from the bare-knuckle world and famous boxers. He has won 10 of his 11 fights and it has been a brilliant and lucrative career. Few boxers have made as much money from the sport as Paul has in the last two or three years. Boxing purists seem upset but when he met unbeaten Tommy Fury in 2023, the pair fought a modern classic, trading punches to end the fight after eight rounds. Unbeatable prospects rarely go head-to-head – it’s one of boxing’s faults. Fury and Paul deserved praise, not abuse. Paul Fury fell but lost a narrow decision and took the loss well, accepting it without tears and with grace.
According to the Texas Commission, Friday’s fight will be over eight rounds at most, the rounds will be two and not three minutes long, and the gloves will be 14oz instead of the regulation 10oz. It must be said that the big gloves can still do a lot of damage if they are attached to the hands of a dangerous man.
In an ideal world, this fight wouldn’t be happening but also in that ideal boxing world, the sanctioning bodies wouldn’t do some of their cheating, they wouldn’t let their champions avoid other champions for years, and they wouldn’t nominate unknown fighters . to number one status. And, perhaps, they would hold accountable the judges who seem to return ridiculous and offensive scores on a weekly basis in televised fights. It’s a great sport and Tyson and Paul will only flirt a bit.
Here’s hoping Tyson somehow emerges with some pride, unhurt and smiling, and Paul doesn’t gloat. There will be a good bit of pantomime but a lot of holding, wrestling and Tyson fighting the fatigue by sticking closely to Paul. I never said it would be enough.
