The legend of Mike Tyson is a curious thing.
Like a fair portion of combat sports fans — and certainly every single Jake Paul fan — reading this article currently, I wasn’t around combat sports for the rise of “Iron” Mike. Seeing as I was about six months old when he lost to Evander Holyfield, it’s safe to say I’m not the ideal source for exactly what it felt like to watch a young Tyson rise up the ranks and then fall from his seat atop the pile.
At the same time, I feel like I get it, and again, I’m not alone here. More than any other boxer who peaked three decades ago, the legend of Tyson endures strongly. Clips of Tyson’s uniquely lightning fast head movement and vicious pad work are easy to stumble across on social media. Cus D’Amato quotes are still repeated around the sporting world and beyond, and the Tyson highlight reel lives on in the mind of the public regardless of whether or not they saw him winning live.
Mike Tyson, quite simply, is larger than life. Appearing in The Hangover or the roast of Charlie Sheen or his own podcast have kept him a relevant figure in the public eye. Perhaps its the face tattoo or the extremely quick cut training clips, but Tyson doesn’t seem to have aged like most long retired boxers.
“Kid Dynamite” still feels lethal.
Now, here’s where the shared experience of being a serious fight fan and casual sports fan differ: I know better. I — and most who closely follow combat sports, be it boxing, UFC, or otherwise — understand that the old are fodder for the young. I’ve watched enough of my heroes savaged by some mediocre fighter ten years their junior to learn the lesson. It’s painful viewing, but it happens to everyone who follows the combat sports long enough.
Consequently, I don’t expect Mike Tyson to win at all. The proverbial puncher’s chance will always exist, but the drastically more likely outcome is that Jake Paul — 27 years old, five years into boxing full time, and training with the Olympic team — fells Tyson with the first punch that hits him upside of the head. The next most likely outcome is that Tyson’s body fails him after a round, and his lungs and cardiovascular system fail beneath all that muscle mass.
Put simply, the most likely outcomes are ugly ones, and a whole lot of casual fans are in for a shock. All across the web, I see tweets and posts from those outside the combat sports sphere fully expecting a Mike Tyson KO. My own father — who has watched most UFC events with me for over a decade now and WHO KNOWS BETTER! — texted me to say that if Jake Paul wins, the whole thing is fixed. Even the betting odds are weirdly close, a sign that many have been suckered into betting on the older man.
That’s how powerful Mike Tyson’s legend is even after 20 years away from the ring. He’s more of an influencer than boxer at this point, but the public just hasn’t realized it yet, and Tyson is about to earn a monster payday as a result.
The obvious downsides of the Tyson legend are the potential consequences for the man himself. Mike Tyson is 58 years old, and 58 year olds do not belong in the ring getting hit by young and powerful punchers. Unlike in MMA, where weight cutting is more dangerous than competing, boxers die all the time. Definitive numbers are hard to track down, but from Wikipedia alone, there have been two boxer deaths this year alone.
Even without being so morbid, Tyson suffered a life-threatening ulcer less than six months ago that delayed the fight once. He is putting his health at serious risk by walking into the ring again. Numerous fellow boxers have spoken out against the match up on grounds of health concerns, but it’s happening anyway because it’s the biggest spectacle of the year.
Tyson is a grown man who can make his own choices, but maybe if the public wasn’t so fooled, the money wouldn’t be so huge, and he wouldn’t be so tempted to take the risk.
For the rest of the “Paul vs. Tyson” fight card and Netflix lineup click here.