Jake Paul lands a left hook on Mike Tyson’s face during their heavyweight boxing match, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Boxing legend Mike Tyson refused to rule out another boxing match after the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion lost an eight-round bout against 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on Saturday.
This was Mike Tyson’s first sanctioned professional boxing bout before retiring in 2005: his last fight was a defeat against Kevin McBride.
With Netflix live streaming the Tyson vs Paul fight, which led to the OTT major’s site crashing during the main event, there was plenty of hype around the fight. Critics of the fight though went as far as calling it a “glorified sparring session”. There were also boos from the crowd at AT&T Stadium as Paul won 80-72 on one judge’s scorecard and 79-73 on the other two.
The Associated Press noted: “The International Boxing Hall of Famer came at Paul hard in the opening seconds, and briefly again to start the second round. Otherwise, he mostly let Paul come to him, and Paul said he thought Tyson was too fatigued to be a threat beyond the third round.”
Jake Paul and Mike Tyson embrace after their heavyweight boxing match in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
The defeat is the seventh one in Mike Tyson’s career, which now reads 50-7 with 44 knockout wins. But despite the loss, he refused to rule out another bout.
When Mike Tyson was asked at the post-fight press conference if the loss meant curtains for his boxing career, he said: “It depends on the situation. Not the last one. Maybe his brother (Jake Paul’s brother Logan Paul) next.”
“I’ll kill you, Mike,” Logan Paul, who was standing along side his victorious brother shot back at Tyson.
At the post-fight press conference, Paul was again asked if he’d taken his foot off the gas in the later rounds, and he said: “Yeah, definitely, definitely a bit. I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt someone who didn’t need to be hurt.”
