Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul: YouTuber beats former world heavyweight champion via unaimous decision | Boxing News

Jake Paul defeated Mike Tyson via unanimous decision in the former world heavyweight champion’s first fight in 19 years.

The eight-round fight, which took place at the AT&T Stadium in Texas and was streamed on Netflix, was scored 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73 in favour of the YouTuber-turned-boxer.

The opening round began with Paul, 27, using his youth advantage to repeatedly close the gap on 58-year-old Tyson, let loose a jab and quickly create distance.

Tyson was able to catch Paul with a few heavy body shots before the two fighters clinched, which elicited heavy boos from the crowd.

The second round followed a similar vein, Paul doing his best to avoid Tyson’s famously heavy blows before clinching again.

Round three began much more explosively, with Tyson coming out swinging before being met with a series of left hooks from Paul.

Building in confidence, the YouTuber continued to land heavy blows on a static Tyson, who looked grateful for the bell at the end of the round.

The two fighters missed jabs at the start of the fourth but Tyson struggled to keep pace with Paul, who was able to pick and choose his spots on the increasingly weary Tyson.

Paul landed a heavy one-two combo to kickstart the halfway mark of the bout as Tyson did his best to use vertical movement to avoid Paul’s strikes, the former heavyweight champion managing to land a stiff overhand right to end the round.

Tyson stood his ground in the sixth, sending Paul scarpering from each attempted strike, before the two exchanged heavy strikes throughout the seventh, which ended with Tyson landing a shot to the head.

But the bout was all but over headed into the final round, as Tyson took his time getting off the corner stool.

There was little of the famous power left in any of Tyson’s punches and the pair embraced as the bell rang.

Tyson last competed in a professional bout in 2005, quitting before the seventh round against Kevin McBride having also suffered defeat in his previous fight, to Britain’s Danny Williams a little under a year earlier.

The 58-year-old won 50 of his 58 bouts as a pro and was the undisputed world heavyweight champion between 1987 and 1990.

Tyson refuses to rule out return to the ring

After his first fight in 19 years, 58-year-old Tyson left the window open for future fights.

Asked if it was the last time he would be seen in a ring, Tyson told Netflix: “I don’t know. It depends on the situation. I don’t think so.”

When asked who a future opponent could be, Tyson pointed out Paul’s brother Logan in the crowd.

The former world heavyweight champion also said he was “absolutely happy” with his performance.

“I knew [Paul] was a good fighter,” Tyson said. “I didn’t prove nothing to anyone, just myself.

“I’m not one of these guys who goes out to please the world, I’m just happy with what I can do.”

‘Tyson has the missiles, but no way of launching them’

Sky Sports’ Andy Scott:

“It was incredibly difficult to watch, painful at times.

“Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. It’s up for debate whether that should have fallen under the umbrella of a professional boxing match, I’m not so sure it should have.

“Serious questions need to be asked about safeguarding of boxers. I don’t think a 58-year-old man should have been allowed to step into that ring. Why was that allowed to happen?

“A few months ago, we saw shots of Tyson in a wheelchair and walking with a cane. He certainly didn’t have any legs underneath him during the fight.

“Tyson could knock me and 90 per cent of people out even now, if he had the legs to do it. He’s still got the missiles, but he hasn’t got anby way of launching them.

“Jake Paul deserves some respect for propping up Mike Tyson towards the end when he could have pulled the trigger. He obviously could have tried to knock Tyson out and I for one am pleased he didn’t.”