The boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul ended successfully with a unanimous decision in favor of the 28-year-old YouTuber. After eight rounds of fighting at the "AT and T Stadium" in Arlington, the younger of the Paul brothers was declared the winner.
The two boxers squared off in a fight of eight rounds of two minutes each. The clash was entered as an official match on the business cards of both. They boxed with larger 14oz gloves. Knockouts were allowed, but Jake Paul did not try to end the match, although Mike Tyson was shaken in the third round, and fatigue hit him in the first minutes of the duel.
Iron Mike is back with the first official meeting since 2005. The 58-year-old veteran had a friendly bout with another living boxing legend, Roy Jones, in 2020. It ended in a tie between the two former world champions.
Here's how the match unfolded round by round:
Round 1: Iron Mike took the center of the ring and began to press his opponent from the first seconds. This set up a clinch. The first blow was placed by Tyson. He caught the younger Paul with a left hook and then hit him with some powerful right hooks. In the last 45 seconds, Jake Paul took the initiative and placed several straight shots with his left hand.
Round 2: Paul started the second part more confidently. The YouTuber kept his hands low and relied on speed to land accurate singles to Tyson's body and countering left hooks and right straights to the head. In typical style, the former world champion tried to close the gap with deflections and forward steps, but was never able to get a clear shot in those two minutes.
Round 3: The younger of the Paul brothers opened the third with a powerful right hook. Tyson looked a lot slower and clumsier than the first round. With a few quick combinations, Jake Paul shook up his opponent, but did not launch into reckless attacks in search of a closeout. Tyson survived this part.
Round 4: Paul was more active in the first minute and landed a high volume of punches, but they landed in Tyson's gloves. The living boxing legend had almost no strength to move around the ring and attacked with no more than ten punches for the entire round.
Round 5: At the beginning of the second part of the match, the two picked up the pace, but in this round more and more accurate hits were scored by the 28-year-old Paul, who was fresher and more aggressive.
Round 6: The young influencer-boxer used his left hand much more actively in this round, while Mike Tyson no longer had the strength in his legs to close the distance and close in with punches. Despite the obvious fatigue in Iron Mike, Jake Paul didn't want to end the fight with knockout punches, but was placing half-strength hits behind them.
Round 7: Tyson showed good deflections and defense in the penultimate part. Jake had trouble getting to the body or head of the legend with clean hits, but he was in control of the round until the very end.
Round 8: The younger fighter in the ring preferred to close the distance early in the round and landed a few punches to secure that portion of the judges' cards as well. In the remaining 90 seconds of the final part, Jake Paul threw light punches, and finally even bowed to Tyson before the final gong.
"I am happy with my performance. I knew Jake was a good fighter and it would be a tough fight. I owe nothing to anyone but myself. Jake is a good boxer. It deserves respect. I don't know if I'll be back in the ring again, it depends on the situation. I don't think this is my last fight. I might fight Logan”, Mike Tyson hinted to sports journalist Ariel Helwani after the fight.