by Kacy Solomon

On Friday night, Jake Paul, the boxer turned social media influencer, and Mike Tyson, legendary boxing champion, fought in the ring of the AT&T stadium. After the fight took place, lots of watchers commented on the fact that maybe the fight was scripted. 

Background

Jake Paul

Paul has been a social media influencer. He started his career in 2016 on the Disney Channel playing as Dirk Mann in Bizaardvark. Before he was on the Disney Channel, he had gained popularity from Vine in 2013. 

This ultimately led him to start his YouTube channel where he gained millions of followers worldwide. Paul began boxing due to fans challenging him to box his older brother Logan Paul. Paul began training like a professional to fight his brother and afterwards decided to continue his boxing career and to take on other opponents. 

Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson has been in the boxing world for most of his life. At the age of 13, he was introduced to boxing by a social worker. He then joined the boxing gym the social worker ran and stuck with it for a long time. 

Tyson had his first professional boxing debut at age 18 and went on to win his first 19 fights by knockout. Aside from having been the undisputed heavyweight champion, Tyson holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles. 

In 2003, Tyson filed for bankruptcy and was heavily in debt. He continued fighting up until 2005 when he decided to retire. In the Yahoo Sports article entitled “The Real Reason Mike Tyson Retired & Whether He’s Officially Coming Back to Boxing After Jake Paul Fight”, it explains how Tyson was seemingly only fighting to take care of the bills but he didn’t have it in his heart to fight anymore. 

According to the article, “When did Mike Tyson retire? And why is he coming back to fight Jake Paul?” by USA Today, Tyson was challenged to come out of retirement and fight his opponent, Jake Paul, and took the opportunity. In the article, Tyson states he wanted to fight Paul, “Because I can. Because it’s easy. Because I started Jake’s career and I’m going to end it.’’

The Fight

At 58 years old, Tyson fought Paul at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Jake Paul won an eight-round heavyweight battle against Mike Tyson by unanimous decision on Friday. According to ESPN’s “Boxing results: Jake Paul defeats Mike Tyson by decision” article, Paul won the fight by scores of 80-72, 79-73, and 79-73 from all three judges.

Before the boxing battle between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, rumors circulated when a fake script describing Paul’s knockout success in Round 5 appeared online. In the Yahoo Entertainment article, “Why Fans Think Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson Fight Was Scripted & Fixed,” it states that a similar thing happened in Paul’s fight with Tommy Fury. There were rumors of the fight being staged as well but, there was no proof to back up the claims. 

According to the fake script, Paul supposedly won by knockout after Tyson dominated the first few rounds. But the altercation in the AT&T Stadium, which was filled with more than 70,000 watchers, went otherwise. In a mostly one-sided fight, Paul won by unanimous decision after eight rounds.

Although he was 58 and dealing with health complications, Tyson performed well and was pleased with his work. After the fight, Paul declared Tyson the “GOAT” of boxing, keeping up his legendary status. Even though the fake script created excitement before the fight, there were no solid claims of foul play, and the result of the fight was as expected.