Over the weekend, the highly anticipated Paul-Tyson fight drew in over 60 million viewers, more than any fight before it. Say what you will about the actual event, but the marketing was truly a masterclass. Needless to say, the community has definitely been talking. Many fans were outraged, many fans left feeling defensive and on edge. Regardless of which fighter they wanted to win, one thing is for certain: people are talking about it.
With potential “leaked fight scripts” coming out, many people are feeling cheated, especially those who bet on the fight. Jake Paul is now coming out and challenging the whole face of boxing, infuriating many other fighters including Ryan Garcia who said, “If Jake Paul somehow beats Mike Tyson, I will finish him. I put that on my momma.”
Jake Paul, the self proclaimed face of boxing, seemingly shocked the world with his win. But was it all staged? Recent news about the contract has come out with details of specifications requested by Jake Paul. For example, the ring was larger than standard, and apparently, Tyson was not allowed to throw any uppercuts at all.
More speculations were made about certain discrepancies with the payout to the fighters, which stated that in order for Mike to make as much as Jake Paul, he would either have to get knocked out by him, or take it the full distance of 8 rounds. Allegations say that a knockout from Tyson would result in multi million dollar penalties to his paycheck. In addition, there were also rumors spreading among the community that the amount of punches he was allowed to throw was also limited.
The fight as a whole was also widely regarded as extremely boring, which had many people wondering because of Mike’s recorded training sessions. Indeed, Tyson looked like he was holding back all match, with Paul mostly throwing combos from range. The supposed “script” also had Paul finishing with a KO in the 5th, which lines up with his sudden change into bigger strikes later in the match.
While some believe it all seems clearly staged, Paul fans argue it wasn’t staged at all. They claim a lot of this is speculation, most likely made up by disappointed fans saddened by the unbeatable opponent: father time. Paul fans also point out that if it was scripted, official sports betting books would have steered clear in order to avoid lawsuits.
Additionally, Paul’s performance was respectable, doing better than expected fromTyson fans. Even commenters talked about his improvement in many areas that Iron Mike probably planned to take advantage of. Junior, Luke Chambers said, “I almost knew Jake would win, like I was hoping for it because I knew so many people would get pressed about it.”
Accordingly, Paul fans around the community are now referring to him as the new goat of boxing despite “haters” claiming he isn’t a real fighter. Nevertheless, Paul fans were certainly happy with his win on Friday regardless of the angered fighting world.
However, the question still remains; was the fight a legitimate win for Paul like some fans insist? Or is it actually one of the biggest scandals in boxing history, and possibly the biggest scam in fighting history?