Jake Paul, the American content creator who turned to boxing, admitted that he deliberately slowed down the pace of the fight in the final stages against his legendary compatriot Mike Tyson, so as not to harm him.
Jake Paul (27) defeated heavyweight legend Mike Tyson on Friday by unanimous consent of the judges, in a fight that was awaited by millions around the world and was held in the state of Texas, and was preceded by much controversy over whether the confrontation was considered a show or professional, given the large age difference between them (31 years).
Tyson (58 years old) failed to land important punches during an 8-round fight, which Paul won by a large margin of points (80-72, 79-73, 79-73).
Statistics showed that Tyson succeeded in injuring his opponent with 18 punches out of 97 attempts, compared to 78 for Paul out of 278 attempts.
After the fight ended, Jake Paul added to the confusion after he confirmed that he was not serious enough to guarantee a decisive victory, but rather deliberately prolonged it, reaching about 16 minutes, and ending with a difference of points.
“I just tried to hurt him a little bit, because I was afraid of hurting him,” Paul said. “Yes, I slowed down the pace in the last rounds because I wanted to put on a show for the spectators and I didn’t want to hurt someone who didn’t need to be hurt.”
Paul then tried to soften his tone towards Tyson, adding, “He is a boxing icon. A legend, one of the best in history, and I adore him.”
On the other hand, Tyson (58) justified his loss to Paul by suffering from a knee injury during the fight, but he insisted that he would not use that as an excuse.
After the fight, Tyson was asked why he had a brace on his knee, and he replied that he had suffered an injury, but he did not want to assume that was the reason behind his defeat against Jake Paul.
The boxer, who is nicknamed “Iron Man,” insisted that he did not care about the reactions, saying, “I did not want to prove anything to anyone, only to myself. I am happy with what I can do.”
Regarding the possibility of him fighting more fights in the future, Tyson confirmed that he did not mind that and said, “I don’t know if this fight will be my last. I don’t think so. Maybe I should face Logan (Jake Paul’s brother) in the future… anything is possible.”
The Boxrec platform, which specializes in providing updated data and records for professional boxers, classified the Tyson-Paul fight as professional, but former British boxer Carl Froch refused to acknowledge it.
The middleweight world champion said days before the confrontation, “This fight is just a show, and everything will be agreed upon. I have heard and believe that there is something in the contract that stipulates that Tyson cannot harm Paul, and this will make many people not trust what they will see in the ring.” “.
He added, “They say that they admitted that the fight is professional, but it is not. First, Tyson does not have a license, and secondly, the confrontation consists of 8 rounds, each lasting only two minutes.”
