I have long said that I think that Jake Paul has been absolutely awful for combat sports and has turned it into a circus of near zero talent and grand press tours with plenty of drama that the idiotic public bought into despite the fact that the fights themselves were garbage. Unfortunately Jake made a ton of money off of these things and therefore they continue to happen.
There are very few boxing heroes that I have had in my life because the sport lost a lot of its appeal to me once MMA burst into the mainstream. Mike Tyson was an exception though because I was just a kid when he was in his prime and let's just say that everyone was a Tyson fan back in those days. There had never been anyone as explosive and powerful as he was in my lifetime. I recall my father being excited about a couple of other boxers but Mike Tyson was the first one that truly captivated the entire world whether or not you happened to be a boxing fan.
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Then there was the video games on the Nintendo that everyone loved. Mike Tyson was an absolute sensation and his face and likeness was everywhere. Then of course he self-destructed and lost $300 million only to return to the ring after his prison stint and manage to perform terribly, bite people's ears off and make horrible press conferences where he appeared racist towards white people, ready to start a brawl with reporters, and was briefly Islamic or so it appeared in one interview.
I fell out with Mike during those times and I think everyone else did as well, but when he was fighting Lewis or Holyfield I couldn't help but cheer for the guy. I wanted him to return to form and dominate the sport like he did years before. That of course never happened but then we got a more chilled out Mike somewhere and he did a wonderful transition into "civilian life" so to speak making cameos in films like "The Hangover" and doing various talk shows in a calm, well I suppose calm for Tyson, sort of way. Then he became an ambassador for weed of sorts and it looked like the icon was going to be alright after all.
When Tyson did his fight against Roy Jones Jr. I felt even before the fight started that it was going to be rigged and well, the two of them didn't disappoint me. It was a boring dancing contest with two old guys who didn't really seem to be going for it at all.
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When that fight ended in a draw I think the whole world groaned but my disdain was much greater than that because I was expecting this result and it wouldn't surprise me if him and Roy had a deal before the bell even rung that they were not going to KO one another. That's certainly what the fight looked like .
Every now and then a promotional video of Mike Tyson training will pop up and everyone always says something like "wow, he still has it! Jake is in trouble!"
Well, while I am not going to make any sort of comparison between myself and Mike Tyson but I trained in a number of martial arts and I know there is a huge difference between sparring with a partner who knows where you are going to hit and actually fighting, even real sparring is far more taxing. Also, these training videos that we see are always conveniently only 30 seconds long. Getting into a ring and fighting multiple rounds, especially when you are out of practice and nearly 60 years old, is a different thing altogether.
Mike's reputation hangs on by a thread after that fight with Jones Jr. A fight with Jake Paul that is rigged in the same fashion will completely destroy it. The only thing that can go right for Mike here is if he KO's Paul and honestly, I don't see that happening because Mike is old and because there very well could be a contractual agreement where Tyson isn't allowed to do that.
Big John McCarthy put it perfectly when he said "Imagine what it would be like if we put Joe Montana on the football field right now." He also talked about a fight that took place between Vito Belfort and Evander Holyfield where Belfort was 15 years younger than Holyfield. Evander lost that by TKO and it tarnished his rep a bit.
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Tyson needs to recognize the fact that this sort of thing could end up happening with Jake Paul as well even though nobody is going to suggest that Paul is a "better boxer" than Mike Tyson is. The age difference here is 30 years, not 15. Even a top shape Mike Tyson at 58 years old is not going to be able to keep up with the speed of someone in their 20's despite the memories we have of Iron Mike KO'ing people in half a minute.
A loss like Evander's would crush my image of Mike Tyson but the other potential outcome is even worse where they have an agreement beforehand that they are going to take it easy on one another and not really go for the kill. This will result in the same sort of crap that we saw with all the Triller fights and when that happens nobody wins.
Jake Paul will run his mouth, make another $30 million, probably throw $30 million Tyson's way, and Jake will continue his path of fighting people who are either old like Tyson, a person he is significantly heavier than, or is a washed up MMA fighter that never specialized in boxing anyway.
This 12-minute video showcases what Michael Bisping thinks about Jake Paul's "career" in boxing is all about and how it is a detriment to boxing and combat-sports in general.
Of course the public is going to eat up the Tyson vs. Paul fight and that is just a shame. This wont stop until the public stops turning up for the events. Mike stands to gain nothing from this other than money but hell, there will likely be a lot of that involved.