Talk is currently on fire over the recent streaming of former heavyweight champion, boxing legend and senior citizen Mike Tyson, against the controversial youtuber and illegitimate Gen Z boxer, Jake Paul. Let’s go through it all – the fighters, theories and what legacy remains after the loss…
Tyson or ‘Iron Mike’ holds possibly one of the most influential and impressive boxing legacies of all time as the youngest and undisputed heavyweight champion. His achievement repertoire includes his numerous successes with only eight losses in professional fights out of an entire fifty-eight matches. He’s been described by George Foreman as a “knockout artist” and by Muhammed Ali as “the most dangerous man on the planet” to note his recognition among other notorious boxing icons. Tyson’s impregnable defence tactics, peek-a-boo style and 88% knockout success rate shapes him truly to be, “the most brutal and vicious, the most ruthless champion there has ever been.”
Iron Mike’s persona in his prime (late 80s and 90s) was that of a movie character. He was the ultimate ferocious and untamable animal in the ring, yet was also the guy protecting and nurturing pet pigeons. His iconic voice is notably high – particularly for someone with such an imposing physique – and has spoken with authentic devotion towards his family while also being vulnerable about his various life struggles in interviews, all contributing to a perception of his soft and unpredictable transparency. Aspects of Tyson’s composure reflect his quiet confidence as someone so successful he could be indifferent to opposition.
Dually, he is also a man who bit off opponent Evander Holyfield’s ear mid-match, before shoving him into a corner until he was restrained. His ferocity in boxing bled through many of his statements, “I want to break his will. I want to take his manhood. I want to rip out his heart and show it to him,” yet people remained spellbound by his power. Tyson was soft and humble at heart, but ferocious and apathetic in the ring. He was far from traditional and was “a counter-culture hero who came from nothing,” who validated his impenetrable savagery with equally unyielding success.
At the time, he was indisputably the most remarkable freak in the sport. So why the hell would such an icon stoop so low in agreeing to box such an embarrassment as Jake Paul?
Claiming to be “the most famous person on the planet,” Jake Paul’s bravado and constant self-promotion has made him one of the most comprehensively disliked youtubers of our generation, to note possibly his most profound achievement. He has an unimpressive catalogue of past fights against professional boxers, consisting only of Tyron Woodley and Tommy Fury, otherwise resorts to cherry-picking weak and non-professional victims to combat. This tactic provides his opponents with cash and a short-lived ‘fifteen minutes of fame,’ while it brings Paul mere attention more than any possibility of athletic legitimacy.
Casually, everyone thinks he’s a twat.
With over 65 million viewers, the unconventional match between Tyson and Paul featured eight two-minute rounds, only allocating points from the fifth round onwards. Tyson displayed a much higher level of speed and expertise early on while Paul appeared absolutely petrified, yet as the match continued, Paul eased in nervousness and people began to notice Tyson’s stiff back legs, exhaustion, fallible defence and a resurface of his glove-biting habit. The scorecard read a unanimous victory for Paul.
For me, the fight happened to coincide with a small reunion between my dad and his best mates, making for an interesting debate and an exciting watch. From what I gather, the Gen X viewers wanted nothing more than to see a restoration of Tyson’s late 80s and 90s glory, yearning to watch him beat the obnoxious Gen Z youtuber and rekindle some kind of late-teen nostalgia. This wishful sentiment was perfectly reasonable, and was for the most part also shared by young watchers.
However, it was unrealistic – the match merely came down to the simplest concept in sport: young beats old. This was true for me, but not for my wishful dad (who now owes me dinner).
USA Today wrote that “Paul didn’t win because he’s an elite boxer or because he landed a bunch of powerful shots, he won a fairly boring and straightforward decision for one reason – because he was fighting a 58 year-old.” Even after the fight, Paul said that he recognised Tyson’s lack of engagement and said that “his age was showing a little bit,” attempting to salvage some leftover perception of morality in enticing a pensioner to fight him for money.
Jake Paul is nothing but a con-artist, and I commend him only for his marketing strategy. This fight was the most unconventional, unforeseeable, hopeful and polarising way to generate cash through views – it had what felt like half the planet watching, and whether moral or immoral, it was the perfect way to draw both mature and young viewers in. Paul knew that the match made him look vile and fame-hungry, but isn’t that his whole brand?
From the start, his high-profile entry in a green Lamborghini wearing reportedly the ‘most expensive boxing shorts in the world’ that featured a staggering 380 carats of diamonds, was not indeliberate. After the match he ‘failed to see’ Tyson offering his hand to Paul for a handshake as he was ruled victorious, while Logan Paul, his equally (if not more disliked) brother arrogantly stated he would kill Tyson in a fight. Paul went on to say that Tyson’s jabs “didn’t actually hurt” but then again in his whole career “no one’s punches have like really hurt.”
It all makes people absolutely hate him – but that’s the point.
Paul’s whole brand is rage bait and he admits it, “people just love to hate me. I’m easy to hate, I intentionally say things to make people hate me.” He plays the heel and feeds himself into situations likely to spark controversy and distaste, because that’s what modern entertainment is. It’s lucrative where people react to it.
I personally doubt that the outcome of the fight itself was scripted, but it was organised and marketed to make us feel like we were watching a livestream of an immoral organised crime. It was executed in a way that forced people to see a young, arrogant elitist with minimal boxing legitimacy succeeded an old, undisputed heavyweight legend with more street and ring credibility than almost any other boxer on the planet, and that is exactly what we watched.
Therefore, everyone knows that Mike Tyson didn’t lose his mid-retirement match to an ‘elite’ boxer, he lost to an influencer-giant because he’s 58 – meaning he never had the capacity to win at his old age.
However, if you think the fight has tarnished Iron Mike’s infamous legacy or success as a boxer, you are wrong. In a recent interview with a young Brooklyn-born girl named Jazzy, Tyson said he isn’t interested in leaving behind a legacy as he sees it as egotistical:
“Man, I don’t know. I don’t believe in the word legacy, I just think that’s another word for ego… It means absolutely nothing to me. I’m just passing through, I’mma die, and then it’s going to be over. Who cares about legacy after that?… I don’t want people to think that I’m this, or I’m great. No, we’re nothing. We’re just dead. We’re dust. We’re absolutely nothing. Our legacy is nothing.”
The interview proves to show his insightful sense of humility and his almost larger-than-life approach, painting his boxing career as something vastly insignificant compared to life’s impermanence and his consistent family-oriented and religious priorities.
Alongside many others, the interview displays Mike Tyson’s legacy – despite his disinterest in the term – as one of quiet integrity, profound humility, unknowing stoic philosophy, honourable heroism and a deeply undeniable human figure who happens to have had one of the most staggering and absolutely exceptional boxing careers of all time.
Despite the loss, Iron Mike remains.