ARLINGTON (TEXAS): Jake Paul beat boxing legend Mike Tyson by unanimous decision to win an intergenerational heavyweight battle in Texas that failed to live up to its enormous hype.
The bout between the 27-year-old social media influencer-turned-prizefighter Paul and the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Tyson was streamed live on Netflix and played out in front of a sold-out crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
Those fans were left largely disappointed as Tyson showed his age and was never able to generate any offense against his younger opponent, landing just 18 punches to Paul’s 78.
“First and foremost, Mike Tyson – it’s an honor 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.
“I don’t know. It depends on the situation,” he said.
Paul (11-1) said he can now fight anyone he wants, possibly even Mexican Canelo Alvarez, after being the main attraction in the mega event that brought out a star-studded crowd and 72,300 fight fans to the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
“This is the biggest event, over 120 million people on Netflix. We crashed the site, The biggest U.S. boxing gate, $20 million, in U.S. history, and everyone is next on the list.”
Comments are closed.