Tag: Jake Paul

Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed boxing match in Miami on Friday.

The fight at the Kaseya Centre, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of $184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests.

In the event, however, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told in the later stages of the eight-round fight, with a sixth-round knockout.

A lacklustre contest descended into farce at times, with Paul repeatedly dropping to the canvas and grappling with Joshua’s legs.

At one stage, even referee Christopher Young appeared to be losing patience, warning the fighters in the fourth round: “The fans did not pay to see this crap.”

As Paul tired, the 6ft 6in (1.85m) tall Joshua began to land punches with more regularity, and after knocking down the 6ft 1in American twice in the fifth round, the end came swiftly in the sixth.

Joshua backed the 28-year-old into a corner and, after teeing up Paul with a crunching left, delivered the knockout blow with a right to the chin that sent his opponent crashing to the canvas.

“It wasn’t the best performance,” Joshua, 36, admitted afterwards. “But the end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him.

“That was the request leading up, and that was on my mind. It took a bit longer than expected, but the right hand finally found its destination.”

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Anthony Joshua, meanwhile, praised Jake Paul for lasting into the later rounds.

“I want to give him his props; he got up time and time again,” Joshua said. “It was difficult in there for him, but he kept on trying to find a way. It takes a real man to do that.”

Paul, meanwhile, his mouth bloodied from Joshua’s final assault, said he believed his jaw had been broken, but was satisfied with his performance.

“That was fun. I gave it my all,” Paul said. “I had a blast. I think my jaw is broken by the way. But Anthony’s one of the best to ever do it, so. I’m gonna come back and get a world championship.

“I just got tired, to be honest, like it was so much handling his weight. I think with better cardio, I could have kept it up and kept on fighting. But he hits really hard.”

Friday’s made-for-streaming contest, which came just over a year after Paul had fought a 58-year-old Mike Tyson in a much-derided Netflix fight, had been widely panned throughout boxing, with many warning that Paul risked serious injury.

Yet the devastating first or second round knockout by Joshua that most had predicted failed to materialise as Paul scrambled desperately to stay outside of the 2012 Olympic champion Joshua’s range.

Joshua, fighting for the first time in 15 months, always looked the more threatening fighter, landing 48 of 146 punches thrown compared to Paul’s meagre total of 16 punches landed.

The Briton is now turning his attention towards a money-spinning bout against compatriot and fellow former world champion Tyson Fury next year.

“We shook off the cobwebs, and I can’t wait to roll into 2026,” Joshua said. “And if Tyson Fury is as serious as he thinks he is, let’s put on some gloves and fight.”

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The fight details of the anticipated bout between Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Jake Paul have been confirmed following a faceoff in New York on Monday night.

Tank is the WBA lightweight world champion at 135 pounds, while Paul, who last fought Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in June, weighed just under 200 pounds.

“The fighters have agreed and the commission has approved a maximum weight of 195 pounds for this exhibition,” Nakisa Bidarian, the CEO of Most Valuable Promotions, told members of the media.

The fight is scheduled for November 14 at Kaseya Centre in Miami, Florida, and will be live on Netflix.

The bout will be contested over 10 three-minute rounds, and the fighters will be donning 12-ounce gloves.

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“Ooh, man, at his walk-around weight, I’m not sure what that is,” Paul’s coach J’Leon Love told DAZN News, “maybe around 160.”

Davis possesses exceptional knockout power, with 28 of his 30 victories resulting in knockouts, giving him a knockout ratio of 93 percent.

“Sure, if it’s done right, his power should grow,” Love added. “I just think pure talent out of Gervonta, I don’t think anything will be massed or slowed down. I think he just has natural ability.

“But overall, Jake will be the one who has to adjust to his different speed, size, range, all those different factors.”

Davis and Paul will engage in another press conference on Tuesday evening in Miami.

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Jake Paul is set to fight former WBC Middleweight Champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., following his victory over Mike Tyson in a blockbuster match last November.

The YouTuber, turned boxer, will face Chavez Jr. in his next fight, reported Ring Magazine.

The date and venue of the fight between Jake, who boasts an excellent record of 11-1, and Chavez Jr. is not confirmed yet.

Chavez Jr., the son of boxing legend and Hall of Famer Julio Cesar Chávez Sr., has previously challenged Jake Paul.

Chavez Jr. (54-6-1) held the WBC Middleweight title from 2011 to 2012, and is the most seasoned boxer Paul will face.

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The 28-year-old Paul defeated 58-year-old Tyson in a thrilling match, which drew 108 million live viewers on Netflix, making it the most-streamed sporting event in history.

Since making his professional debut, Chávez Jr. has competed in just five fights, securing victories in three of them.

His latest match resulted in a unanimous decision win against Hall, which took place on the undercard of Paul’s victory over Mike Perry.

Paul, aged 28, with a record of 11-1, including 7 knockouts, last faced off against Hall of Famer and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson on November 15, 2024, where he won by unanimous decision.

Throughout his career, Paul has claimed victories over five UFC veterans, such as Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley, and Silva.

His sole loss in professional competition came in 2023 when he was narrowly defeated by Tommy Fury via split decision.

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Mike Tyson suffered a one-sided defeat on Friday, in his controversial return to boxing against Youtuber-turned-prizefighter Jake Paul, who cruised to victory by unanimous decision in Texas.

Tyson, 58, barely landed a punch during the eight-round bout at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, with Paul winning by big margins on all three cards — 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73.

Paul, 27, used his superior speed and movement to dominate the ageing Tyson with ease and had the former undisputed heavyweight champion in trouble after landing a flurry of punches in the third round.

Yet the younger fighter was unable to land the knockout blow he had promised to deliver during Thursday’s ill-tempered weigh-in, where Tyson slapped him across the face.

Tyson, however, looked every bit of his 58 years, managing to land only a handful of meaningful punches during the fight, watched by a live crowd of around 70,000 spectators with an estimated millions more tuning in around the world.

Final statistics showed Mike Tyson connected with just 18 of 97 punches thrown while Jake Paul threw some 278 punches and landed 78 of them.

As the final seconds of the eighth round counted down, Paul could even afford to bow in respect to Tyson before the bell sounded.

“First and foremost, Mike Tyson, it’s such an honour. Let’s give it up for Mike,” Paul said after embracing Tyson following his win. “He’s the greatest to ever do it. He’s the GOAT, he’s a legend. I’m inspired by him and we wouldn’t be here today without him.”

“This man is an icon and it’s just an honour to be able to fight him. He’s obviously the toughest, baddest man on the planet; it was really tough like I expected it to be.”

Tyson, meanwhile, said he was satisfied with his performance despite the one-sided nature of the defeat.

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“I came to fight,” he said. “I didn’t prove nothing to anybody, only to myself… I’m just happy with what I can do.”

Tyson had fought with a brace on his right knee but said it had not impacted his performance. “I can’t use that as an excuse. If I did I wouldn’t be in here,” he said.

Tyson, meanwhile, praised the quality of his opponent Paul, who has successfully parlayed a career as a popular Youtuber and content creator into a string of lucrative boxing contests such as Friday’s event, bankrolled and broadcast by streaming giant Netflix.

“He’s a very good fighter,” said Tyson, who refused to rule out the possibility that he might even fight again.

“I don’t know. It depends on the situation,” said Tyson. Pressed on whether Friday was his last fight he added: “I don’t think so.”

Tyson was reportedly paid $20 million to sign up for Friday’s contest, which came 19 years after his last officially sanctioned professional bout, a defeat to Irish journeyman Kevin McBride in 2005.

The former heavyweight champion’s return to the ring had been greeted with dismay across the boxing world, which had dismissed Friday’s contest as a macabre circus that risked injuring the boxing icon.

Those concerns deepened in May when the fight — initially set for July — was postponed after Tyson suffered a medical scare during a flight from Miami to Los Angeles. Tyson later revealed he had vomited blood caused by an “ulcer flare-up.”

Tyson, though, brushed off the concerns for his health, insisting that his critics were mostly jealous that he remains a box-office draw decades after his 1980s peak when he terrorised the heavyweight division.

Tyson tried to recall that era of dominance in his ring walk on Friday, marching into the arena in his signature black trunks with a black poncho draped over his body.

Yet that was as close as Tyson came to reflecting the fighter he once was, with Jake Paul comfortably keeping him at arm’s length throughout the contest.

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A 58-year-old Mike Tyson, who made his professional debut nearly 40 years ago, will climb back into the ring on Friday, 19 years after being battered into retirement, for a Netflix-backed bout against Youtuber Jake Paul that has drawn widespread condemnation across the boxing world.

Tyson, who terrorised the heavyweight division during an imperious reign in the late 1980s, is lacing up the gloves once more to take on 27-year-old Paul in an officially sanctioned fight at AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, in Arlington, Texas.

The fight, which will be comprised of eight two-minute rounds, was initially due to take place in July but was postponed in May after Tyson required medical treatment on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles after vomiting blood due to a bleeding ulcer.

That gory mid-air emergency has provided another piece of ammunition for the numerous critics who have condemned Friday’s contest as a macabre circus act that poses an unacceptable level of risk for Tyson, who last graced a professional ring in 2005 when he was beaten via a technical knockout after quitting on his stool against Irish journeyman Kevin McBride.

“Twenty years ago, Mike Tyson retired from boxing, and was shot to pieces, right? I mean, completely shot,” the prominent British fight promoter Eddie Hearn said this week.

“If anyone thinks that Mike Tyson should be in a ring at this age, you either have absolutely no emotional feelings toward the man, or you’re an idiot. It shouldn’t be happening.”

Hearn’s rival promoter Frank Warren echoed those sentiments. “Mike Tyson is 58 years of age and he shouldn’t be fighting,” Warren said after the bout was announced. “It’s as simple as that.

“Anyone with an ounce of brains knows that it is ridiculous. You can be on a motorway stuck in a traffic jam and you get to the end of it and all it is is people who have stopped to look at a crash — and that’s what this is.”

Tyson, who US reports say is being paid around $20 million for Friday’s contest, has brushed off the concerns for his wellbeing, insisting that critics from the boxing world are motivated by jealousy.

“I’m beautiful, that’s all I can say,” he said earlier this year. “The people who said that wish they were up here. No one else can do this.”

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At an open workout in Texas this week, Tyson declared that a gruelling training camp had left him with the conviction “that I’m tougher than I believed I was.”

“When I agreed to this fight and started training, I thought ‘What was I thinking of?’ But I’ve finished the process. The fight is the party. All the hard work is done.”

At a final press conference in Texas on Wednesday, a stony-faced Tyson pointedly declined to engage in the pre-fight hype.

“I’m just ready to fight,” he said. “I’m looking forward to fighting.”

A global audience of several million watching on Netflix, and tens of thousands inside the AT&T Stadium will be watching on Friday to see whether Tyson’s hard work pays off.

His opponent Jake Paul — who was born six months before Tyson bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear in their infamous 1997 rematch — rose to prominence as a Youtuber, before turning his attention to boxing.

Since his first fight against a fellow Youtuber in 2018, Paul’s opponents have included a basketball player, mixed martial arts fighters and other professional boxers. In 11 fights he has won 10 (seven by knockout) and lost one.

“I feel really good, sharp, powerful and explosive. It’s going to be a short night for Mike,” Paul said at Tuesday’s open workout, where he appeared wearing a bizarre head-dress in the form of a rooster.

It goes without saying that a prime, 1980s-era Tyson would almost certainly have dealt with Jake Paul within a few minutes.

Does he retain enough residue of the talent and destructive power that made him the youngest heavyweight champion in history in 1986, at the age of 20 years and four months? Bob Arum, the legendary 92-year-old boxing promoter who has seen it all, is unequivocal.

“The answer is no,” Arum told Secondsout.com last month. “A 58-year-old guy, no matter how good they were, no matter how athletic they were, are not gonna be able to fight.

“You can’t throw punches like you’re supposed to, you can’t do a lot of things. I hope Mike doesn’t get hurt, but I really give him relatively no chance.”

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