Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul: The prefabricated fight

This morning we will witness a miracle: Mike Tyson (50.6; 44 KOs) returns to a professional fight 19 years (7,000 days) later. The most incredible thing is that he is doing it at the age of 58 and after experiencing a critical episode for his health last May.

The youngest heavyweight champion in history lost consciousness in the bathroom of an airplane during a flight from Miami to Los Angeles due to a stomach ulcer. “I went to the bathroom and vomited blood. The next thing I knew I was on the floor, defecating tar,” he said in one of the documentaries broadcast by Netflix, the service that offers the fight against Jake Paul (10-1; 7 KOs) exclusively. “It was a five-centimeter ulcer, and it was bleeding,” he specified.

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This Friday (early morning in Spain) he will step into the ring at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, to be acclaimed by 80,000 fans, because not fighting was not an option: “Nobody tells Mike Tyson what to do,” he said. In addition, ‘Iron Mike’ had his priorities clear: “I don’t want to die in a hospital room, I want to die in the ring.” The man who was once known as ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ will relive his glory days, but this time he has to share the media spotlight with a 27-year-old who became a millionaire as a YouTuber and has a legion of young followers (27.2 on IG and 20.2 on YouTube). As a showcase, a platform -Netflix- that has some 282 million subscribers.

Boxing purists sneer at Paul for building a career based on ‘prefabricated’ fights. He faces selected rivals, almost always outside the world of boxing, but usually with pedigree in combat sports. The exceptions were Tommy Fury – here Paul clearly lost – Bourland and August. In reality, ‘The Problem Child’, as the young American is known, is not a bad boxer. He has punching power and a good chin, but a defense through which Tyson’s uppercut passes.

Combat rules

The age gap between the two contenders is 31 years, so although it is a professional fight, rules have been implemented that are more reminiscent of exhibition fights. The fight will consist of eight rounds of two minutes each; the gloves will be 14 ounces (larger and padded, instead of the 10 ounce ones). The fight will count towards both fighters’ professional records.

The truth is that ‘Iron Mike’ looks like a titan for a 58-year-old, although there are doubts about how he will respond if the fight drags on. Paul’s advantage is not only his age, but also Tyson’s inactivity and the fact that Tyson no longer looks so fierce. This week the Brooklyn native has barely given any play. He has looked listless or at least oblivious to the show expected from such fights. He ultimately forced a slap on his opponent during the weigh-in. There is no need to threaten to eat anyone’s children, but for $20 million – the minimum guaranteed on his side – at least Mike could have raised the tone a little.

In any case, ‘Iron Mike’ dared to say: “I’m going to bring back the devil himself. After this fight my kids are going to have a different opinion of me because they don’t think of me as ‘The baddest man on the planet’. Jake Paul, for his part, threw it at the former undisputed heavyweight champion: “On the internet you talk a lot and say you’re going to kill me, but in person you don’t say anything to me. You’re pretty boring”. In a few hours we will see if all this is serious.