The long-awaited opposition between the legend Mike Tyson (58 years old) and the YouTuber Jake Paul met media expectations, in the absence of a boring spectacle.
72,000 spectators melting behind Mike Tyson at AT&T Stadium (Texas), 120 million viewers in front of Netflix… The media fight between Youtuber Jake Paul (27 years old) and heavyweight legend Mike Tyson (58 years old) is a cardboard. So much so that the American platform, which broadcast a sporting event live for the first time, experienced some broadcast bugs due to too many connections.
Tyson loses, but pockets $19 million
The return of “Iron Mike” (50 fights, 44 KOs in his heyday), at 58 years old and nineteen years after his last fight, was one of the big attractions on the night from Friday to Saturday. The speaker kept chanting his name during his clash against Jake Paul, YouTuber-turned-boxer (11 fights, 10 victories). Insufficient support. Paul won thanks to the unanimous verdict of the judges.
Purists were skeptical of this comeback. The financial argument would be the only motivation for the former champion, even if the latter assured his desire to launch a new challenge. The winner of the fight collected the tidy sum of 40 million dollars, against 20 million for the loser. A far cry from the $500,000 “prize money” of the era of Evander Holyfield and Burster Douglas.
The fight itself? The quality wasn't really there. Neither does the intensity. Eight fairly boring 2-minute rounds were enough to satisfy the fans, but the show itself was disappointing. Not surprising given the age of Mike Tyson, reinforcing the theory of a staged show between the two men. “I'm happy, I have nothing to prove to anyone except myself”he said at the end of the fight. “Mike is the GOAT, a legend, the greatest in history”assured, for his part, Jake Paul.
Mike Tyson has not closed the door to a possible next fight…
