Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson – Who wins the oddest contest in boxing?

On Friday, November 15, YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul (10-1, 7KO) will fight a man 31-years his senior in former undisputed world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson (50-6, 44KO).

This peculiar pair will meet at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, over eight 2-minute rounds at heavyweight, live on Netflix.

58-year-old veteran fighter “Iron” Mike Tyson first became a world champion in 1986, 11 years before Jake Paul was even born.

By the time Jake was born in January 1997, Tyson had already had 47 fights, winning 45 and losing two – to Buster Douglas and Evander Holyfield.

After losing three from his last four fights, Tyson decided to retire in 2005, when Jake was just eight-years-old.

Now, 19-years later, this pair, with a 31-year age difference, have somehow been licensed to fight each other.

The duration of the rounds have been reduced and the size of the gloves increased, as safety precautions.

Many fans could be getting carried with the social media clips on “Iron Mike” looking powerful and explosive, and the promises he is making to knock Paul out.

In the New Yorker’s last fight with Irishman Kevin McBride, 19-years-ago, in 2005, his timing and accuracy was way off. He kept landing low blows and missing head shots due to his advanced age, which was just weeks before his 39th birthday.

Then, he slowed down dramatically in round five due to exhaustion, and was floored in the sixth stanza, which is when he decided to retire on his stool.

He hung up his gloves when he realised that he was losing to opponents who wouldn’t have been able to lace his boots at one stage. But now he is heading back to the ring almost two decades on from that acknowledgement.

He did have an exhibition bout in 2020, billed as “Lockdown Knockdown”, against four-weight world champion and fellow boxing legend, Roy Jones Jr.

Tyson fought in his typical style, bobbing and weaving, leaping forwards into big hooks, but anything he landed on RJJ, he just absorbed.

As the fight was fought behind closed doors, the breathlessness and sounds of fatigue was very audible in that empty arena. The huffing and puffing could be heard from as early as round two. However, Tyson appeared to be fitter than Jones, but the bout was declared a draw.



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