Iron Mike didn’t have enough in the tank.
The 58-year-old boxing legend lost to Jake Paul by unanimous decision in his return to the ring at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Friday night.
The fight was scored by the judges 80-72, 79-73, 79-73 in favor of Paul.
While the highly anticipated heavyweight bout went the full eight rounds, it failed to live up to the hype. Tyson landed just 18 of his 97 total punches, according to Compubox, while Paul connected on 78 of 278 punches.
Boos began to rain down inside the venue, where a crowd of over 70,000 was expected, late in the match over a lack of action. Tyson, facing an opponent over 30 years younger, landed a combined six punches over the final five rounds, and he threw fewer than 10 punches in each of the last three rounds.
The match ended with Paul dropping his gloves and bowing toward Tyson in the final seconds, drawing boos from the crowd.
Many watching from home on Netflix, meanwhile, took to social media to voice their displeasure with the quality of both the stream and the main event.
“Let’s give it up for Mike,” Paul said in the ring, not getting much response from a crowd that started filing out before the decision was announced. “He’s the greatest to ever do it. I look up to him. I’m inspired by him.”
Paul, a 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer, improved to 11-1 since launching his fighting career in 2020. He had knocked out seven of his previous 10 opponents, who ranged from ex-NBA player Nate Robinson to fighters like Nate Diaz and Tommy Fury.
“I was trying to hurt [Tyson] a little bit,” Paul said. “I was scared he was going to hurt me. I was trying to hurt him. I did my best. I did my best.”
Tyson, who slapped Paul across the face at Thursday’s weigh-in, dropped to 50-7 in his legendary career. He entered with 44 knockouts, but wasn’t able to add to that tally as he fought in a pro bout for the first time since 2005.
“I didn’t prove nothing to anybody, only to myself,” Tyson said when asked what it meant to complete the fight. “I’m not one of those guys that looks to please the world. I’m just happy with what I can do.”
Despite his performance, Tyson wasn’t ready to completely close the door on fighting again.
Mike Tyson slapped Jake Paul at their weigh-in on Thursday night in Arlington, Texas.
Tyson-Paul was originally scheduled for July before being postponed after Tyson experienced an ulcer flare-up in May. The bout was professionally sanctioned by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, though, it consisted of two-minute rounds instead of the typical three-minute rounds and the boxers wore heavier gloves designed to lessen the impact of punches.
It was the co-main event that proved to be the fight of the night as Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano delivered another thriller two years after their historic and iconic showdown at Madison Square Garden.
The rematch left both boxers bloodied and bruised, and it came down to the judges once again. Taylor defended her unanimous super lightweight championship thanks to a unanimous — and controversial — decision where she was scored 95-94 by all three judges.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
