“Declaring your winner by unanimous decision… Jake Paul,” yelled the announcer. Was it rigged? What was in their contract? Why was Mike Tyson so weak? What are they not telling us?

Well, let’s break this down. 

For some background information, Mike Tyson started boxing professionally in 1985 with a TKO in his first match. Tyson immediately frightened boxers. He punched harder than one could imagine, he was quick, he was tough, but most importantly, he was a monster. All he wanted to do when in the ring was kill his opponent. Tyson went on to win his first 37 matches, with nine knockouts. By 1990, Tyson established himself as the best boxer in the world. Eventually, Tyson slowed down, losing three of his last four fights in 2002-2005.

Jake Paul, on the other hand, is a 27-year-old boxer. Paul began his boxing career in 2020 and won his first six matches. He received backlash for these fights because of who he fought. He went up against 39-year-old Tyron Woodley, 37-year-old Ben Askren and 47-year-old Anderson Silva. These men are “out of their prime” while Jake entered his. Many see this as unfair or just not something to boast about. But that’s exactly what Paul did. He named himself the “Problem Child,” and did everything he could to make people dislike him, seemingly on purpose. 

After Mike Tyson stopped fighting in 2005, he claims he went through very tough times. Fighting mental health issues, trying to escape the man he was. Tyson himself said the man he used to be scared him. Eventually, he did it; he wasn’t the terrifying man that everyone feared. He appeared in ads, on podcasts and lived a retired life. Until 2020, when Tyson fought Roy Jones Jr. He looked good still, he seemed quick, strong and still a solid boxer. Everyone thought this would be his last fight, given his age at 54 years old.

Fight day came, the wait was finally over and everyone was ready to watch. Jake Paul came out in a car with his whole team, while Tyson came out walking alone. The confusion started early, when Mike tripped and almost fell walking to the ring. When the fight started, Tyson looked pretty good in the first round. He threw some good punches, dodged Paul’s swings, but that didn’t last long. Soon enough, it got pitiful. Tyson wasn’t even throwing punches, he was taking hit after hit, and it left everyone wondering. This went on for the full eight rounds. Jake Paul ended up winning by unanimous decision. It wasn’t until after the fight that people really started questioning it. You can see Tyson biting his gloves and holding his punches in the fight. How could he look so good in the videos released a week ago and then be so bad in the real fight. And that’s when all the rumors came out. Some say in the contract the men signed, it stated that Tyson couldn’t knock out Jake. If so, he would get the $20 million dollars he signed up for. Some say that there was a script for Jake to win and that is why Tyson looked so weak. But I don’t think either of those are true. 

I think that it was an honest fight. I mean, any 27 year old boxer should beat a 58 year old. Mike felt the effects of being so much older and having not truly boxed in years. Even though I don’t like the person Jake Paul is, I give him the credit he deserves, as he is a pretty solid fighter. As for Tyson, I give him credit for staying tough and lasting the full fight. I believe that if Tyson landed one of his hooks, Jake would have been out. 

At the end of the day, I don’t think it was rigged nor scripted. While Paul definitely did have the advantage, he fought well and deserved the win.