Jake Paul took on Mike Tyson last night (November 15) at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The fight, being the first of its kind to be live-streamed through Netflix was billed to be one of the biggest fights of modern-day boxing.
For those unaware, the fight initially faced a lot of heat because of the age disparity between the two. However, there was still a large portion of the audience that believed that Tyson might just knock out Paul. That said, let’s take a deeper look into what happened in the fight.
Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson: How did the fight end?
The first round had a few quick, heavy blows by both men and a warning by Jake Paul to Mike Tyson to keep his punches above the belt. In the second round, Paul relied heavily on body punches and quick retreats to keep away from Tyson’s signature bombs.
In the third, ‘Iron Mike‘ absorbed several heavy punches from Paul and looked wobbly, but held the center of the ring. In the fourth, Tyson kept his position in the middle of the ring again and appeared to have a little more energy, dodging more shots and countering with an occasional hook on Paul.
In the fifth, Jake Paul kept Mike Tyson moving around the ring, feeding the aging champ a host of left hooks. Both men showed some fatigue heading to their corners ahead of the last three rounds. As he did in the previous five rounds, Paul went right at Tyson at the start of the sixth round, bouncing and jabbing at the former undisputed heavyweight champion.
The seventh round opened with a flurry of punches from Tyson and Paul, both men trading hooks and jabs at the center ring before settling into a strategy game. Paul a lot of the two-minute stanza looking around Tyson’s guard, looking for openings. The last round mirrored the action in the two minutes, with more punches and movement from Tyson and effective hunt-and-peck jabs from Paul to finish off the fight.
Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson full fight card results
- Heavyweight: Jake Paul def. Mike Tyson via unanimous decision (80-72, 79-73, 79-73)
- IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC/WBO super lightweight title: Katie Taylor def. Amanda Serrano via unanimous decision (95-94, 95-94, 95-94)
- WBC welterweight title: Mario Barrios vs. Abel Ramos ends in split draw (114-112 Ramos, 116-110 Barrios, 113-113)
- Middleweight: Neeraj Goyat def. Whindersson Nunes via unanimous decision (59-55, 60-54, 60-54)
Preliminary Card
- Super middleweight: Shadasia Green def. Melinda Watpool via split decision (97-93, 94-96, 96-94)
- Lightweight: Lucas Bahdi def. Armando Casamonica via majority decision (95-95, 96-93, 98-92)
- Featherweight: Bruce Carrington Jr. def. Dana Coolwell via unanimous decision (80-70, 80-70, 80-70)
Could Jake Paul have finished Mike Tyson?
While Mike Tyson definitely had some brute force behind his punches, he lacked the ability to take hits at his age. As the fight went on, it became pretty evident that Tyson was on the back foot and that father time had taken its toll.
Paul looked like the far better and more efficient fighter. Moreover, when Paul was landing heavy shots, they were causing a lot of trouble to Tyson and he was even wobbly on some occasions.
It became pretty apparent that if Jake Paul wanted to stop Mike Tyson, he could have during the fight. But for some reason, Paul did not step foot on the gas completely to stop Tyson. As a result, when the fight ended it was Paul who emerged victorious via unanimous decision.
Why did Jake Paul not stop Mike Tyson?
The way Mike Tyson was fighting, it was evident that if Jake Paul had landed a flurry of punches, he could have stopped the fight. The same raised a lot of eyebrows and many fans argued if the fight was fixed.
Following the fight, Paul was asked why he did not pressure Tyson more. To which he replied by suggesting that he did not want to hurt a man who did not need to be hurt. It’s safe to say that it was a way for Jake Paul to show Mike Tyson respect.
Was Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fixed?
As mentioned earlier, there have been a lot of speculations surrounding the fight in regards to it being fixed. However, it is not to be forgotten that the fight was an officially sanctioned pro-fight.
While there’s still room for exhibitions to be scripted, a pro fight, however, if fixed is a legal offense. Both parties involved can get into legal trouble if they are found guilty of staging a pro-fight.
That said, it is very unlikely that the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight could have been fixed.
Conclusion
With that said about the event, fans should not think about the main event between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson to be fixed. With the event now over, Paul’s future inside the boxing ring has a lot of questions that need to be answered.
Paul competed at heavyweight for the first time after competing around 185-200lbs throughout his career. As a result, it will be interesting to see if he continues to stay in the heavyweight division or moves back to cruiserweight and light heavyweight.