The crowd started booing, wanting more excitement, when Jake Paul dropped his gloves before the final round and bowed to 58-year-old Mike Tyson.
Paying respect to one of boxing’s most famous names didn’t seem to satisfy the fans who packed the stadium of the Dallas Cowboys on Friday night.
Paul won an eight-round unanimous decision against Tyson, in a fight that didn’t live up to the expectations. It was a matchup between the 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer and the former heavyweight champion, who was fighting professionally for the first time in almost 20 years.
All the anger from the pre-fight build-up was gone, replaced by boos from confused fans who were hoping for more action in a fight that had raised questions about its legitimacy long before it happened.
The fight wasn’t close on the judges’ scorecards, with one judge scoring it 80-72 for Paul, and the other two giving him 79-73.
“Let’s give it up for Mike,” Paul said in the ring, getting little response from the crowd, which had started leaving even before the decision was announced. “He’s the greatest to ever do it. I look up to him. I’m inspired by him.”
Tyson came at Paul right after the opening bell, landing a few quick punches, but didn’t do much else throughout the rest of the fight.
The fight was shorter than the usual 10 or 12 rounds, with only two-minute rounds instead of three. The gloves were also heavier to reduce the power of the punches, but this didn’t help create more action.
After Tyson’s early flurry, Paul was more aggressive, but the punches weren’t very accurate. There were a lot of wild swings and misses.
“I was trying to hurt him a little bit,” said Paul, who now has a record of 11-1. “I was scared he was going to hurt me. I was trying to hurt him. I did my best. I did my best.”
Tyson mostly waited for Paul to come to him, except for a few moments. This was a sharp contrast to the co-main event, where Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano had an exciting, back-and-forth fight, with Taylor defending her undisputed super lightweight title in a controversial decision.
This was Tyson’s first sanctioned fight since 2005. He had fought Roy Jones in a much more entertaining exhibition match in 2020. Paul had started boxing just a little over four years ago.
“I didn’t prove anything to anybody, only to myself,” Tyson said when asked what the fight meant. “I’m not one of those guys that looks to please the world. I’m just happy with what I can do.”
Tyson’s career record is now 50-7 with 44 knockouts. The fight was originally set for July 20 but had to be delayed when Tyson was treated for a stomach ulcer after becoming sick on a flight.
Tyson slapped Paul on the face during the weigh-in the night before the fight, and they exchanged insults in the lead-up to the match, before and after the delay.
The anger from before the fight was completely gone by the time the underwhelming fight ended.
“This guy’s always had my back,” Paul said about Tyson. “I love him. I love his family, his coaches. It’s just an honor to be in the ring with all of them.”
The fight set a Texas record for combat sports, with ticket sales reaching nearly $18 million, according to organizers. Netflix also faced issues with the feed during its first-ever live combat sports event. The streaming service has over 280 million subscribers worldwide.
“This is the biggest event,” Paul said. “Over 120 million people on Netflix. We crashed the site.”
On the undercard, Mario Barrios kept his WBC welterweight title in a draw with Abel Ramos. Barrios started strong but Ramos took control in the middle rounds. Both fighters scored a knockdown during the 12-round bout.
This was Barrios’ first fight since becoming WBC welterweight champion when Terence Crawford began moving up from the 147-pound weight class. Barrios, now 29-2-1, had won the interim WBC title last year with a unanimous decision over Yordenis Ugás. Ramos, who is 33, has a record of 28-6-3.
