After the long-awaited fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson ended with Paul’s victory, he explained why he didn’t go for the knockout.
It’s been a hell of a ride waiting for the two fighters to finally have their bout, but last night’s event was met with mixed emotions.
While some believe that it was rigged and scripted, others think that Paul’s win was well-deserved.
In his heavyweight bout with Tyson, the YouTuber-turned-fighter won via unanimous decision after eight short rounds of boxing.
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The 27-year-old can now say that his professional record boasts 12-1, while Tyson's record changed to 50-7-2 after the Netflix-streamed fight.
It was Paul’s win after the eight two-minute rounds that fans all observed that Tyson held his own, despite being over 30 years older than his competitor.
Iron Mike held his own and saw it through to the end.
But it wasn’t enough to land him the title.
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Now that Paul has won, his large $1 million bets are going to have to be paid out to him, so Katie Taylor, if you’re reading this…pay up.
While the fighting pair have been seen battling their tempers in the lead up to the fight, with Tyson even slapping Paul across the face during a weigh-in meet-up, the event itself wasn’t as vicious as expected.
If anything, it seemed like Paul was pulling his punches in a bid to not do any serious damage.
During the live broadcast at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Paul didn’t go the knockout, which is something he’s been telling people he was going to do.
Well, he said Tyson was going to ‘die’, but close enough.
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However, there’s a good reason why he held himself back.
According to BBC Sport, he didn’t want to hurt him.
He was quoted as saying: “I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt someone that didn’t need to be hurt.”
When former professional boxer, Andre Ward came out and suggested that Paul had been carrying Tyson throughout the fight, he also responded to that too, and confirmed it.
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He said: “I did, a little bit.
“He wasn’t really engaging back; I could tell his age was showing and I have so much respect for him.
“After he slapped me, I wanted to knock him down and stuff but as the fight went on that feeling went away.”
Essentially, he didn’t want to hurt his hero if he didn’t have to, and that’s actually quite sweet for a man who isn’t known to be sweet.
According to Al Jazeera, Paul went on to speak on the fight and how he felt in the ring fighting against a legend like Tyson.
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He said: “It was tough like I expected it to be.
“He’s exactly what I thought. One of the greatest to ever do it.
“He’s an icon and a legend.”
He added: “I was scared he was going to hurt me. I was trying to hurt him.”
In the end, Paul managed to land 78 punches on Tyson from 278 thrown (28 percent), and Tyson managed 18 landed punches, throwing 97 (18 percent).
Topics: Boxing, Jake Paul, Mike Tyson, Sport, Netflix
Britt Jones