It has been generating a ton of press ever since it was quite shockingly announced. The fight has had people raging in anger over how it should not be taking place. The fight suffered a postponement, with plenty of folks stating that, at the time of the call-off, this would be the perfect opportunity to scrap the fight for good.
But now it’s here. It’s happening. This Friday at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. We are of course talking about Mike Tyson Vs. Jake Paul. Set for eight, two-minute rounds, with the two fighters to wear no head-gear, the bout will see the two men don 14-ounce gloves. There are as many cynics out there as there are critics who say the fight is just too dangerous considering Tyson’s age of 58, with the cynics going another route and saying the fight has “already been scripted,” or words to that effect.
So, the question is: what on earth will we witness on Friday night?
If it is indeed an “arranged” fight, we could all feel let down, with the fight perhaps going the distance (and what price the draw here?). But if the fight is indeed legit, with no prearranged moves or result, and if both men go for it in a very real, venomous effort at winning, at getting the KO, then we could see something that either sends Tyson fans home happy and pumped up, or in a state of depression, with them being left very much deflated.
If the fight is on the level and not merely a staged moneymaker for both men, and if both fighters let their hands go with, as the peak Tyson would say, “bad intentions,” then who wins? Tyson has looked fast and explosive in some of the footage we have been permitted to see of him in training, for a while at least. While at other times, Tyson has looked off-balance (this due to a knee-brace he was wearing in that particular clip of training footage) and stiff.
Paul? Can he even fight, some of the harsher critics have asked. Paul has youth on his side, that’s for sure, and against a man who is not too far off his 60th birthday, youth could be enough.
Paul is angry at the suggestion Friday’s fight will be a fake fight, or a dull fight (or both) and he has written on social media the following:
“Someone is getting knocked the f**k out. The end.”
Maybe.
Tyson has stated how his aim is to “hurt this young man.”
Maybe.
But will this fight, its result, ultimately hurt the sport? Plenty of us who do tune in may well end up watching the fight with our hands in front of our eyes. For if Tyson, once a truly great, wrecking machine of a fighter, does get flattened, it will be bad enough. If Tyson gets badly hurt, it will perhaps be catastrophic.
The dice is being well and truly rolled with this fight. And it isn’t just the two fighters who are risking things.
Tyson is 50-6(44) and he will be having his first sanctioned bout since 2005. Paul, 27, is currently 10-1(7) and he has said numerous times that this fight is a dream come true for him.
We’ll soon see.
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