Jake Paul beats Mike Tyson in a boxing match that didn’t live up to the hype

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Cries from a crowd wanting more action grew again as Jake Paul dropped the gloves before the final bell and bowed to 58-year-old Mike Tyson.

Paying tribute to one of the biggest names in boxing history didn’t do much for the estimated 72,000 fans who packed the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys on Friday night.

Paul won an eight-round unanimous decision over Tyson as the hits failed to match the hype in a fight between the 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer and the former heavyweight champion in his first sanctioned pro fight in nearly 20 years.

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All the hate from the pre-match build-up was gone, replaced by boos from confused fans hoping for more from a match that drew plenty of questions about its legitimacy long beforehand.

The fight was not close on the judges’ cards, with one giving Paul an 80-72 edge and the other two calling it 79-73.

“Let’s give it up to Mike,” Paul said in the ring, not getting much of a response from a crowd that started filing in before the decision was announced. “He’s the greatest to ever do it. I look up to him. I’m inspired by him.”

Tyson got after Paul immediately after the opening bell and landed a few quick punches, but didn’t try much else the rest of the way.

Even fewer rounds than the normal 10 or 12 and two-minute rounds instead of three, along with heavier gloves designed to reduce the force of punches, could do little to generate action.

Paul was more aggressive after the quick burst from Tyson in the opening seconds, but the punching was not very effective. There were quite a few wild swings and misses.

“I tried to hurt him a little bit,” said Paul, who is 11-1 with seven knockouts. “I was afraid he would hurt me. I tried to hurt him. I did my best. I did my best.”

Tyson mostly sat back and waited for Paul to come to him, with a few exceptions. It was in stark contrast to the co-main event, another slugfest between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, where Taylor retained her undisputed super lightweight championship with another controversial decision.

Paul, who said an ankle injury limited his sparring sessions in the final weeks of training camp, said he eased up to start around the third round because he thought Tyson was tired and vulnerable.

“I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt anyone who didn’t need to be hurt,” Paul said.

It was the first sanctioned fight since 2005 for Tyson, who fought Roy Jones Jr. in a much more entertaining exhibition in 2020. Paul started fighting a little more than four years ago.

“I didn’t prove anything to anybody, just to myself,” Tyson said when asked what it meant to complete the fight. “I’m not one of those guys who seems to please the world. I’m just happy with what I can do.”

The fight was originally scheduled for July 20, but had to be postponed when Tyson was treated for a stomach ulcer after falling ill on a flight. His record is now 50-7 with 44 knockouts.

Tyson punched Paul in the face during the weigh-in the night before the fight, and they traded insults in several of the hype events, before and after the layoff.

The hatred was long gone by the end of the anticlimactic fight.

“I have so much respect for him,” Paul said. “That violence, war thing between us, like after he hit me, I’d be aggressive and take him down and knock him out and all that. That sort of went away as the rounds went on.”

The fight set a Texas record for martial arts with a gate of nearly $18 million, according to organizers, and Netflix had issues with the feed of the streaming platform’s first live martial arts event. Netflix has more than 280 million subscribers globally.

“This is the biggest event,” Paul said. “Over 120 million people on Netflix. We crashed the site.”

Among the celebrities were basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal and former NFL star Rob Gronkowski, along with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, two enemies from Tyson’s heyday, greeted him in his dressing room before the fight.

Tyson infamously bit Holyfield’s ear in a 1997 fight, and he appeared to have one of his gloves in his mouth several times during the Paul fight. He was asked if he had problems with his mouthpiece.

“I have a habit of biting my gloves,” Tyson said. “I have a biting fixation.”

“I have heard of that,” replied the interviewee.

According to reports, Paul’s payday was $40 million compared to $20 million for Tyson. Paul mentioned his number during a promotional event over the summer. Tyson has a history of legal and financial problems but had said he was not taking the fight for the money.

Mario Barrios retained the WBC welterweight title in a draw with Abel Ramos on the undercard. Barrios was in control early before Ramos dominated the middle rounds. Each had a knockdown in the fight’s 12 rounds.

It was the first fight for the 29-year-old Barrios since being named WBC welterweight champion as Terence Crawford began the process of moving up from the 147-pound division.

Barrios, who is 29-2-1, won the interim WBC title with a unanimous decision over Yordenis Ugás last year. The 33-year-old Ramos is 28-6-3.