Jake Paul and Mike Tyson got in the ring for a fight that's got everyone talking for a year. The match pitted the young YouTuber-turned-boxer against the 58-year-old former heavyweight champ in an eight-round bout.
From the start, it was clear this wasn't going to be a typical fight. In the first round, Tyson landed a big overhand right that pushed Paul to the ropes. Paul clinched twice but managed to land a solid overhand right of his own. The round ended close, with opinions split on who came out on top.
As the fight went on, Tyson's age started to show. He stayed in the center of the ring, likely due to knee problems, while Paul moved around more and stayed active.
By the third round, Tyson came out aggressive but quickly ran out of steam. Paul took advantage, landing big shots that left Tyson unsteady and biting his left glove .
Paul's trainer advised him to mix up his attacks, and it paid off. He threw nearly twice as many punches as Tyson and kept the former champ on the defensive. Tyson had moments where he showed flashes of his old form, but they were few and far between.
The middle rounds saw Paul growing in confidence. He came close to landing a big right hook in the fifth, clearly hunting for a knockout. Tyson, meanwhile, was struggling to get out of the way of punches.
The crowd grew restless as the fight went on. What started as an exciting matchup turned into what some called a strange and sad spectacle. Tyson looked increasingly tired and slow, while Paul grew more confident with each round.
Tyson had a brief surge in the seventh, landing an uppercut and a jab. But Paul quickly took back control, wobbling the older fighter with a right hook. Stats showed Paul had thrown more than twice as many punches at this point.
In the final round, Tyson was slow to get up from his stool. Paul, though subdued, still looked for opportunities to land his overhand right. As the bell rang, the two fighters embraced, ending what many will remember as one of boxing's most unusual matchups.
When the scores came in, it was unanimous: Jake Paul won the fight. The judges scored it 80-72, 79-73, and 79-73, all in Paul's favor.
"It was a strange, somewhat sad spectacle," one commentator from NYT said. "At times, it looked more like an uneven sparring session than a real fight."
The big age gap between the 58-year-old Tyson and the much younger Paul was clear. Tyson's decades away from the ring showed, and he mentioned having knee problems. Paul, on the other hand, boxed well and grew more confident as the fight went on.
This fight will likely be remembered not for its technical boxing but for the controversy surrounding it. The age gap between the fighters and Tyson's declining performance as the fight went on raised questions about whether the match should have happened at all. But for better or worse, it's now a part of boxing history.
