Apparently 84 percent of U.S. states are calling the Tyson vs. Paul fight for “Iron Mike,” while a big chunk of the remaining 16 percent think “The Problem Child” wins only because the match is “rigged.”
Jake Paul has done it again: he’s found another legendary opponent that’s old enough to beat but fierce enough to convince people it might be different this time.
According to a X (formerly Twitter) data dive conducted by BetOnline, the majority of people in 42 U.S. states believe Mike Tyson is going to wreck Jake Paul when the two fight on July 20th in Texas. Only eight states — New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming — had more people saying Paul would win. And four of those states are convinced Jake’s victory will be “fixed” or “rigged.”
BetOnline went through over 150,000 tweets discussing the fight, which will stream for free to all Netflix subscribers around the world. Any mention of a conclusive fight outcome like “Mike Tyson will kill Jake Paul” or “betting on Mike Tyson” was counted, and the results are clear: most people think the 57-year-old Tyson still has what it takes to beat the 27-year-old Jake Paul.
Fire’s in the house#PaulTyson pic.twitter.com/zAXIUNyxEU
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) March 16, 2024
The sportsbooks see things differently. They have Paul as a -360 betting favorite, while Tyson is a +300 dog. Those are pretty wide odds, and about right considering the cardiovascular advantage Jake has being 30 years younger. Don’t be fooled if the line tightens up as July 20 approaches. The more money that comes in on one side (we’d expect a mountain of bets on Tyson given his popularity), the closer the odds will become to encourage bettors to put money on Paul.
Could Mike Tyson uncork something that will knock Jake Paul out cold, like people across America are clearly hoping? Anything is possible in combat sports, especially in a freakshow fight like this. And Jake Paul has done his best work against elderly MMA fighters, not a boxing legend. The guy couldn’t even beat Tommy Fury. So we can see why some are convinced he’s gonna get pulverized by Tyson.
Paul has once again picked the perfect foil to build his reputation on. Millions of people are going to tune in expecting to see Mike Tyson knock “The Problem Child” out. Speaking as an MMA fan who’s been watching Paul for the last three years, they could be in for a disappointment.