Jake Paul Defeats Mike Tyson by Unanimous Decision
By Max Ferguson, Staff Writer
Last week, YouTube star turned boxer Jake Paul took on one of the most dominant boxers in the history of the sport, Mike Tyson, in a boxing match in AT&T Stadium in Dallas. Paul, who began fighting competitively in 2018, started out by fighting fellow YouTubers in amateur creator boxing promotions. His debut fight was against Deji Olatunji, who used to go by ComedyShortsGamer on YouTube. Paul’s boxing debut was the undercard of the fight between his and his opponent’s respective older brothers, Logan Paul and KSI. Since then, Paul has gone on to fight the likes of Anderson Silva, Tyron Woodley, and Nate Robinson. Paul’s only loss going into the fight was against Tommy Fury, the only active professional fighter (at the time) Paul has on his record.
“Iron Mike” Tyson is a fighter who needs no introduction. Tyson, who’s first professional bout happened in 1985, quickly rose through the ranks of professional boxing ranks. Tyson was the youngest heavyweight boxer to hold the titles of World Boxing Champion and International Boxing Federation Champion consecutively. Likewise, he is also the youngest unified heavyweight champion ever. Tyson’s career began to slow down in the 2000s as his age made him a less contentious fighter. His back-to-back losses to Evander Holyfield, where he controversially bit Holyfield’s Ear, marked the beginning of the end for his professional fighting career. Tyson’s last fight before his matchup with Paul was in 2005, where he lost by TKO because he did not answer the bell for the seventh round of the fight, thus ending it. Nevertheless, Tyson retired with a storied career of 50 wins and 6 losses.
Capitalizing off of the internet hype of Paul, Netflix arranged the promotion in what would be their first ever boxing promotion. The fight was originally planned in July, but Tyson had health issues that required him to delay the fight, which Paul’s camp agreed to. Skepticism has been drummed up over the promotion as a whole as rumors have come out that Tyson’s contract was extremely lopsided compared to Paul. Moreover, numerous state gaming commissions like New York, Pennsylvania, and Colorado barred residents from wagering on the fight as a result of these rumors.
As for the fight itself, it was extremely lopsided. Tyson undoubtedly showed his age in this bout. The footwork that made Tyson so dangerous in his prime was absent. To make things worse, Tyson had difficulty landing blows on his much younger opponent. His reaction time seemed to be off, and Tyson had numerous whiffs simply due to his lack of agility in age. Regardless of fighting talent, there is 31 years between these two competitors. Mike Tyson’s career started and ended before Jake Paul was in middle school.
The nature of this fight itself plays into what is considered to be the dark side of sport that many would consider its downfall: promotions. The primary reason for this fight was not for the sake of trying to find out who was the superior athlete. Rather, this fight was organized on the basis of the hype surrounding it. Paul is incredibly popular right now. The next logical step for him and his management team to boost his name even further would be to put his name on a card next to one of the living legends of boxing. This was Netflix’s first time ever streaming a boxing match on their platform, and it immediately became the most digitally streamed sporting event ever, clocking in at 65 million concurrent viewers worldwide according to Netflix’s own metrics. Regardless of the nature of the fight. It is confident to say that both fighters were likely compensated handsomely for their appearances. So, even if purists may complain about how this may not have been a ‘fair’ or ‘honest’ matchup, both opponents are sleeping easy knowing they got paid.
For Tyson, this fight does not mean much. Considering he is 58 years old and went the distance with an opponent 31 years his junior, he could actually consider this a win. Tyson’s last professional fight before facing Paul was over 20 years ago. This was not a career revival; it was easy money.
For Paul, however, this fight may carry more weight. Paul and his promotion team, MVP Promotions, now have the bargaining chip of ‘defeating Mike Tyson’ to use in negotiating cards and payouts. Granted, this victory has landed Paul in severe backlash on the internet. Users on all platforms of social media have been quick to call out Jake Paul for what some consider to be a padded record given the fact most of his opponents are older than he and do not have a past in boxing.For social media stars like himself, oftentimes any press is good press. People talking about Paul on the internet are exactly the means by which he generates money. Staying hot in the press also leverages him to book another big time opponent.
Alternatively, Jake Paul has entered the ring and won against several journeyman fighters. In December of 2023, Jake Paul defeated Andre August, a boxer fighting out of Houston, Texas. Including his TKO loss to Jake Paul, Andre August has a 10-2 professional record. Likewise, Jake Paul also defeated Ryan Boruland, a professional with a 17-3 record by technical knockout in March of 2024. Jake Paul has entered the ring with professional fighters and won. After beating Mike Tyson, Jake Paul called out Canelo Alverez for a fight, indicating that Jake Paul is looking for a better challenge. Until July of this year, Alvarez was the undisputed super middleweight champion. For Jake Paul, fighting Canelo Alvarez would silence any criticism of his record and cement himself as a legitimate boxer. If this fight were to happen, Jake Paul would finally be able to fully remove himself from being a ‘youtuber who boxes’.
Only time will tell what’s next for Paul’s career. Will he fight in a more organized promotion like the World Boxing Championship? Will he take even fiercer opponents like Floyd Mayweather? Paul and his brother Logan have become trailblazers for this ongoing wave of social media influencers taking up combat sports. What is known is that the Paul brothers will continue to leverage their position in both circles to generate more capital for appearances, endorsements, licensing, merchandise and other streams of revenue. As of now, Paul can continue to book himself as a fighter while also working as a promoter to bring more creators into the combat sports space.
Combat sports have been becoming increasingly popular year after year. Although UFC and other MMA promotions have been leading the charge universally, influencers entering boxing promotions has brought eyes back to the sport that was once considered to be ‘corrupt’ and ‘aging’ for around a decade thanks to the drama surrounding the four major international boxing circuits. Regardless of what choice he makes, it seems as if Paul will draw more attention to himself as his boxing and social media careers continue.
