Booing fans, a weary 58-year-old fighter and lack of aggression mar one of the most hyped boxing fights of the year.
The boos from a crowd wanting more action were growing again when Jake Paul dropped his gloves before the final bell and bowed towards 58-year-old Mike Tyson.
Paying homage to one of the biggest names in boxing history did not do much for the fans who filled the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys on Friday night.
[Relive the fight in our blow-by-blow live coverage wrap.]
Paul won an eight-round unanimous decision over Tyson as the hits did not match the hype in a fight between the 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer and the former heavyweight champion in his first sanctioned pro bout in almost 20 years.
All the hate from the pre-fight build-up was gone, replaced by boos from bewildered fans hoping for more from a fight that drew plenty of questions about its legitimacy long beforehand.
American basketball icon Magic Johnson expressed his disappointment on X, saying: “The fight was not great for boxing.”
Just sad smh. I cut it off because I couldn’t watch anymore. It’s sad to see Mike Tyson like this because I went to every Tyson fight.
This fight tonight was not great for boxing.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) November 16, 2024
The fight was not close on the judge’s cards, with one giving Paul an 80-72 edge and the other two calling it 79-73.
“Let’s give it up for Mike,” Paul said in the ring, not getting much response from a crowd that started filing out before the decision was announced. “He’s the greatest to ever do it. I look up to him. I’m inspired by him.”
Tyson went after Paul immediately after the opening bell and landed a couple of quick punches but did not try much else the rest of the way.
Even fewer rounds than the normal 10 or 12 and two-minute rounds instead of three, along with heavier gloves designed to lessen the power of punches, could not do much to generate action.
Paul was more aggressive after the quick burst from Tyson in the opening seconds, but the punching was not very efficient. There were quite a few wild swings and misses.
“I was trying to hurt him a little bit,” said Paul, who improved to 11-1. “I was scared he was going to hurt me. I was trying to hurt him. I did my best.”
Paul said he eased up starting about the third round because he thought Tyson was tired and vulnerable.
“I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt somebody that didn’t need to be hurt,” Paul said.
It was the first sanctioned fight since 2005 for Tyson, who fought Roy Jones Jr in a much more entertaining exhibition in 2020. Paul started fighting a little more than four years ago.
“I didn’t prove nothing to anybody, only to myself,” Tyson said when asked what it meant to complete the fight. “I’m not one of those guys that looks to please the world. I’m just happy with what I can do.”
Tyson slapped Paul on the face during the weigh-in a night before the fight, and they traded insults in several of the hype events, before and after the postponement.
The hate was long gone by the end of the anticlimactic fight.
“I have so much respect for him,” Paul said. “That violence, war thing between us, like after he slapped me, I wanted to be aggressive and take him down and knock him out and all that stuff. That kind of went away as the rounds went on.”