Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson Sparks Debate: Is This Fight Legit?

by Junna Base November 11, 2024

The power looks real.

The speed looks real.

The sweat, the grunts, the groans – it all looks real in the viral videos of Mike Tyson preparing for his fight against Jake Paul.

Still, the question remains: Is this a real fight?

Watching Tyson and Paul in the ring on Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas will help find the answer. It should be clear whether the two hit with full force and try to win a heavyweight fight scheduled for eight rounds. But until then, a real fight?

The preliminary answer is undeniably “yes” based on some protocols: The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), which regulates combat sports in Texas, approved the Tyson-Paul fight as a professional bout and not an exhibition bout.

As with all real fights, it is judged by three licensed judges, a winner is announced and the result is recorded in the fighters’ records.

Or the answer to the question of whether the fight is real is a resounding “no,” based on the rules for the fight, which is scheduled for eight rounds. The rounds will last two minutes and the gloves will be 14 ounces, instead of the standard three minute rounds and 10 ounce gloves.

Others have looked beyond the specific rules when questioning the legitimacy of a fight.

Until a few weeks ago, the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion and the 27-year-old YouTuber were showing affection for each other as they prepared to make tens of millions of dollars.

“It feels like two brothers trying to fight each other during a family reunion in the backyard,” Jay Kornegay, executive vice president of racing and sports betting at Westgate SuperBook, told USA TODAY Sports via text message last month. “I am not sure how serious they will be.

Why this fight can be considered legitimate

Paul is a more successful YouTuber than a boxer, but he has competed in 11 sanctioned professional fights as of January 2020. He is 10-1 with seven knockouts.

Tyson may not be able to turn back the clock and look like the “baddest man on the planet.” But he is 50-6 with 44 knockouts and fought Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition tournament in 2020.

Their fight was legitimized by BoxRec, the official boxing registry. The bout is already listed as a professional bout online and there are no plans to change that when the listing is updated with the result, said Gray Johnson, BoxRec’s chief marketing director.

“This is the first professional men’s fight I can recall that has two-minute rounds in the United States, although historically this practice is not uncommon in other countries such as the United Kingdom,” Johnson told USA TODAY via email Sports. “The question of whether it is an exhibition or a professional fight must ultimately be answered by the Texas commission.

A common complaint from people who refuse to accept Tyson vs. Paul as a real fight is that Texas deviates from the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) uniform rules. They are calling for three-minute cartridges and 10-ounce gloves instead of the two-minute cartridges and 14-ounce gloves used when Tyson and Paul fight.

However, Mike Mazzulli, president of the ABC, said member commissions only need to apply uniform rules to title fights. Tyson and Paul will fight for tens of millions of dollars, but not a title.

“You get in the ring,” Mazzulli said. “You judge the fight. So it’s a real struggle. Absolutely.”

A “pine box” for Jake Paul

Last week, New York and five other states confirmed they would ban betting on the Tyson-Paul fight, largely because they consider it an exhibition bout.

This move was accompanied by a strong opinion in the boxing community that this was not a real professional fight. The non-traditional rules are not the only objection.

“I think it’s absurd that a 58-year-old man with arthritis and the well-known marijuana business and his love of it would fight in a professional fight in a major jurisdiction and act like it was a real boxing match,” Lou DiBella Jr. said. , a well-known boxing promoter. “It’s absurd.

“If this fight were fought 30 years ago, there would have to be a pine box next to the ring for Jake Paul. But that’s not it. Mike is 58 years old and it’s an entertainment spectacle.

In boxing, there is no central authority regulating the sport, so each state commission can sanction fights largely as it sees fit.

In 2018, Texas officials approved a professional fight between then-62-year-old Jack Lucious and Yail Eligio, a younger boxer whose age is not listed in BoxRec, the sport’s official registry. In the first round, the 62-year-old Lucious lost by TKO.

“I don’t know how they do it,” Al Low, the former chairman of the Michigan State Boxing Commission, said of Texas sanctioning the bout as a professional. “That would never have been allowed in Michigan.”

Greg Sirb, who was commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission for 33 years before retiring last year, said the two-minute rounds and 14-ounce gloves remain problematic.

“I don’t understand how even a Texas player can say this is a sanctioned fight,” he said.

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