When the July 20 bout between legendary boxer Mike Tyson and YouTube sensation Jake Paul was initially announced by Netflix, Paul reshared a four-year-old hype video of Tyson training and made it out to be from two weeks prior.
…When in reality, Tyson revealed on Joe Rogan’s podcast that he was bedridden for a week for going that hard for even the shortest span of time.
Look, I’m not hating on anyone involved for this upcoming duel in the ring. There has to be something innately appealing to Tyson (besides money) about the chance to knock out an amateur like Paul, who’s less than half his age. From Paul’s perspective, it’s yet another way to go rival and boost his perpetually increasing profile. Why people care so much about the Paul brothers, and how they’ve amassed a bazillion followers, I’ll never understand it. But hey, they’ve found a way to make a name for themselves and have gotten famous and rich off of it. They had to work at that to achieve it. Good for them.
I will say I’m morbidly curious about this fight, which I suppose was the thinking behind it in the first place and why Netflix agreed to carry it. No telling what will happen, but Iron Mike has at least posted a video of a much more current sparring session.
Looks like Tyson’s still got it. He’ll turn 58 years old before getting into the ring with Paul. Since this is a mere exhibition bout, there’s probably incentive for both fighters to drag it out as long as possible. If I were Tyson, I wouldn’t give a flying f*ck and go for the kill shot early. Just try to get out of there without too much damage. Not that Paul is like facing Evander Holyfield back in the day, but he’s good enough to where Tyson could really get himself hurt. Paul was a -360 bet to win the fight when the lines opened.
Both men have already won in the sense that they’ll get massive paydays regardless of the outcome, yet it’ll be interesting to see how this one unfolds. Back in 2021, Floyd Mayweather Jr. took on Logan Paul in an eight-rounder that went the distance. Mayweather admitted afterwards that he held back, but he was also more than a decade younger than Tyson in that gimmicky showdown. Plus, Mayweather always took a more measured approach to his fighting than Tyson ever did, so it was more in his wheelhouse to largely evade Logan and let the bout play out in full.
For Jake Paul, this could be one of those classic “be careful what you wish for” scenarios in his latest stunt in the name of fame. It’ll actually be more sad than anything else if Tyson isn’t up to snuff and gets decked by him. Based on the initial training video, however, Tyson appears up to the task. The consensus on social media regarding Tyson’s vid is that the 27-year-old Paul is in for a rude awakening.
