By Eric Armit
JAKE PAUL outpointed Mike Tyson in what hardly even qualifies as a sparring session. Despite wearing a knee brace and having limited mobility, Tyson was able to get to Paul in the first scoring round with a left and overhand right. Paul landed a right, but it was Tyson’s round. Paul had his jab working in a low-scoring second round, which he just edged.
Paul began to move more and throw more punches in the third, finding Tyson an easy target. He took the fourth, circling Tyson and choosing his moment to step inside and score.
Paul continued to box on the outside in the fifth, picking the slow Tyson off with plenty of jabs, but Tyson only got through with rare shots. Paul was taking no chances in the sixth, spearing Tyson with jabs and an occasional right, but Tyson really only boxed defensively and did not have the speed to pose any threat.
In the seventh, Paul seemed to be holding back, trying to make Tyson look a little better to lessen the ridicule the fight had sparked. He just cruised through the eighth with a tired Tyson, not able to make any effort. Paul bowed to Tyson before the final bell.
Paul won by scores of 79-73 twice and 80-72. All this proved is that Tyson is too old to box anything other than exhibitions, and Paul still needs to do something to show that his No. 106 rating by BoxRec is not inflated. Maybe one day, he will face a real test but he is a valuable cash cow and as long as he can get millions for a parody such as this, why should he take the risk?
Tyson fought like a 58-year-old former boxer who had not had a fight for almost 18 years, and some people were actually surprised by that!
Distressingly, Tyson said he would probably fight again and named Paul’s brother Logan as an opponent, which would be a test to see if he could fool all the people all the time.
