After bombastic promotion and a tense fight week, Jake Paul and Mike Tyson failed to deliver in the ring.
The eight round contest saw Tyson in the ring at 58-years-old after retiring all the way back in 2005. If he looked competitive at all it was only in the first and second rounds. From then, Paul cruised his way to a unanimous decision win, even taking the sting off some shots to spare the older man.
Whilst many predicted this is exactly how it would play out, others started to buy into the hype, including many former opponents of Tyson like Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield and Larry Holmes.
Speaking on his live watchalong, famed trainer turner analyst Teddy Atlas had one word for all of the people who started to believe that ‘Iron’ Mike could turn back the clock and produce something close to a vintage performance.
“I got one word for you all, and myself included, you ready? Suckers!”
Atlas – who played a small part in coaching Tyson in the very early days of his career – said even those who were absolutely convinced the heavyweight veteran didn’t have a chance would have tuned in.
“I’m kidding, but we were all suckers. We were all part of it, we all bought in and, hey look, we bought in because we wanted to see … Listen, we watched it for a myriad of reasons. Curiosity. The guy was iconic and it drew us in. What if?
Even the ones that were smart enough to just come right out and said this is ridiculous if you think any other than the 27-year-old win you’re an idiot, you’re crazy, you’re fooling yourself. But they watched too … because you had to watch. They gotcha. The guy used to be the baddest man on the planet, he slaps him at the end. You had to watch. Everyone was gonna be there, you had to be there.”
Paul moves ahead with his career with a professional record of 11 wins and one loss. Fans will hope Tyson has now satisfied any craving to fight again.
