By: Sean Crose
In just under a month, Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury will battle for heavyweight supremacy for the second time. Their first fight ended with Usyk being crowned undisputed king of the division by a razor sharp decision. No one knows how the second fight will play out, only that it’s good for boxing to have some of the biggest (literally) and best talents around squaring off in a legit superfight. Usyk-Fury 2 isn’t the talk of the fight world this week, however. No, that honor goes to tomorrow night’s Mike Tyson-Jake Paul match, which will be going down at AT&T Stadium outside of Dallas.
The 29 year old Paul, who emerged onto the fight scene from social media several years back, has become a halfway decent fighter thanks to hard work and a very fine right hand. He’s not a great fighter, though, and likely never will be. Still, there’s no denying the guy can sell a fight. The 58 year old Tyson, however, is different. Unlike Paul who is a decent and marketable fighter, Tyson in his day was a brilliant and more than marketable fighter – he was a global celebrity on a scale few can attain anymore.
Why was this? Because Tyson was the most frightening fighter since Jack Dempsey seventy years earlier, that’s why. It’s hard to explain what it was like to witness Tyson in his prime. Younger fans know what they’re getting before they even click on an old Tyson fight on YouTube. Back during Tyson’s prime, the kind of violence the man delivered was simply unheard of. I still remember his 1986 fight with Marvis Frazier – how each of Tyson’s blows looked like they were taking chunks out of poor Frazier’s body. Suffice the say, the bout was only seconds long.
That was the Mike Tyson of long ago, however. To think the Tyson who won his first title by crushing Trevor Berbick in a very short two rounds, or who mowed through Michael Spinks in order to become undisputed heavyweight champion, is going to show up Friday night in Texas is a pipe dream. Great as he was – and Tyson was certainly great – the fighter known as Iron Mike last fought almost 20 years ago – and he was past his prime then.
Still, this IS Mike Tyson we’re talking about here. He may not have the lightning speed and the highly underrated defensive prowess he once did – but power is known as the last skill to leave a fighter. And if Tyson still has that Paul might end up knockout victim number forty-five (you read that clearly – Tyson has stopped forty-four men within the distance). That, however, is probably not going to happen. Time, simply put, is not on Tyson’s side anymore.
The truth is that Tyson has two-to three rounds to catch his man on Friday. If he does, Paul may indeed be in serious trouble. Let’s remember, however, that the rounds for this scheduled eight rounder are going to be two rather than three minutes. Tyson has to get his man out of there earlier on. Otherwise those old legs of Tyson’s are going to feel a lot older. If Paul can survive the earlier rounds, however, the fight is likely his.
I see Paul avoiding Tyson in the first part of the fight, and then holding when Tyson gets in close. After surviving the early rounds, Paul will then break his exhausted opponent down. Could Paul score a knockout? Absolutely. If Tyson appears to be thoroughly bested however, Paul may take it easy in order to provide Tyson with some dignity. That, I think will be the most likely outcome.
Prediction: Paul by split decision, with one of the three referees ruling in favor of Tyson just out of a sense of nostalgia.