Pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford slammed Mike Tyson‘s performance in the first Netflix live boxing event, which saw the 58-year-old former undisputed heavyweight boxing champion lose a unanimous decision to the 27-year-old social media star and professional boxer Jake Paul.
“I love Mike Tyson, but they giving him too much credit. He looked like trash, to train that long and only throw 97 punches the whole fight is crazy. I’m just glad he didn’t get hurt out there,” Crawford said in a post on X.
Tyson only landed 18 of his punches, while Paul connected on 78 of 278 punches, according to the CompuBox punch stats.
A visibly gassed Tyson threw zero to little punches in the latter rounds of the eight-two-minute-round boxing match.
All three judges scored the fight for Jake Paul 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73 in a lopsided contest.
Tyson trained for nearly four months, and he revealed on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in September that he spent about six hours a day in the gym in preparation for the fight.
Tyson looked ripped for the match. But as Andre Ward, who retired from boxing with an undefeated 32-0 record, alluded in the pre-fight commentary, Tyson could only get into the best shape at his age, but he cannot have the same speed and stamina that he had in his prime.
And it showed in the fight.
The CompuBox punch stats showed Tyson did not land a punch in the fourth and sixth rounds, while he only connected on one punch in the final round.
NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson agreed to a degree to Crawford’s sentiments.
“Just sad, smh. I cut it off because I couldn’t watch anymore. It’s sad to see Mike Tyson like this because I went to every Tyson fight. This fight tonight was not great for boxing,” Johnson wrote in a post on X.
Tyson’s last professional fight was in 2005.
Before the Paul fight, Tyson competed in an exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr on November 28, 2020.
Boxing Fans In Awe of Mike Tyson Despite Losing to Jake Paul
Several boxing fans disagreed with Crawford and Johnson’s perspective of the fight that drew around 70,000 live spectators and more than 120 million viewers watched via live stream, which caused Netflix servers to crash.
“I disagree with you. This is truly an example of what age does to anyone,” one fan replied to Johnson X. “For Mike Tyson to even step in the ring.. that’s legendary. He has the guts.. that’s what matters.”
“Mike did amazing for his age. He should be proud,” another fan replied to Johnson’s comment.
“If that was Mike Tyson fighting at 38, it was sad. To me, at 58, it was expected, not sad. And please don’t say it was a bad look for boxing, cause that wasn’t boxing. It was barely an exhibition of a sport. I had no expectations going in, and my expectations were met,” wrote another fan.
Mike Tyson Hints at Next Career Move
Despite the agonizing loss, Tyson refused to hang up his gloves for good and wanted to continue fighting.
Tyson is eyeing Jake Paul’s older brother, Logan Paul, as his next opponent.
Logan Paul, who is best known for winning the WWE United States Championship in 2023, did not hold back and issued a threatening response to Tyson’s challenge.
“[Expletive], I’d kill you, Mike,” Logan Paul said during the post-fight interview with MMA sports journalist Ariel Helwani.
“It’s on then,” said Tyson in a curt reply.
Spoke with @JakePaul and @MikeTyson after the fight.#PaulTyson @Netflix pic.twitter.com/S8liAwvnAq
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 16, 2024
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Tyson is set to earn an estimated $20 million payday from fighting Jake Paul. That is enough motivation to set his sights on fighting Jake Paul’s older brother.
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Pound-for-Pound Champ Terence Crawford Takes Shot at ‘Trash’ Mike Tyson