A few days have passed since Jake Paul defeated Mike Tyson by unanimous decision, and the public response has been focused on whether the fight was rigged or not.
The two men went the distance for eight complete rounds, but Paul scored better than Tyson by a significant margin according to the three judges sitting ringside. The 58-year-old started the first round looking like his usual, aggressive self, but things dramatically changed after Paul rocked Tyson with a left hook to the temple in the third.
In the following rounds, Tyson moved extremely slowly, a far cry from the intense training videos that displayed his lighting speed and raw power. Tyson also didn't bother to throw any of his bone-rattling punches that would've surely put Paul in a blender. The official scorecard also showed how lopsided the highly anticipated fight was as Tyson landed 18 punches out of 97, and Paul had 78 out of 278.
It didn't take long for people to express their disbelief that Paul got the better of Tyson in their fight. In addition to the widespread doubt, people were also wondering if the fight was rigged. Paul has been fielding rigged accusations ever since he defeated MMA fighters Mike Perry, Nate Diaz, Tyron Woodley (twice), Anderson Silva, and more. His only loss came from professional boxer Tommy Fury, so fans expected Tyson to do the same, but that didn't happen.
Check out what people had to say about the fight below.
Michael Irvin
The NFL Hall of Famer was one of the first people to claim that he heard there was a clause in the fight contract that didn't allow Tyson to hit Paul with his signature body shot, uppercut combo. According to Irvin, Tyson and Paul did not intend to fight each other.
DJ Whoo Kid
The iconic mixtape DJ shared a video on social media where he reminded fans this was a celebrity boxing match and claimed Tyson and Paul couldn't legally fight each other. Paul would've "died" if Tyson actually punched him, and vice versa. Paul would've "killed" Tyson because of his old age.
Ebro Darden
The longtime radio broadcaster posted a video online analyzing how the fight was rigged. The video claimed that Tyson was pulling his punches and showed the exact moment when Paul told him to calm down at the end of the first round by wrapping him up on the ropes and whispering something in his ear. Tyson then tapped Paul on his back, seemingly confirming he would ease up with the punches.
IShowSpeed
During his conversation on 360 with Speedy at ComplexCon2024 in Las Vegas, Speed expressed how the fight showed how weak Paul is with his form as he wasn't truly protecting himself the way a boxer would. Because of that, Speed claimed he could knock Paul out.
Francis Ngannou
The MMA fight and boxing heavyweight Francis Ngannou couldn't believe that Tyson lost to Paul and claimed it was hurtful to see the 58-year-old in that position. According to Ngannou, Paul wasn't a serious threat to Tyson.
Stephen A. Smith
Smith acknowledged how happy he was that Tyson could get in the ring and withstand eight rounds at 58 years old. However, Smith made sure to say that even though he didn't think anything was "preordained," Paul decided to change things up in the middle of the fight after seeing how bad Tyson looked.
Gilbert Arenas
The former NBA players believed that real fans of Tyson and boxing should get a round in honor of them so that people could see what Iron Mike is really capable of. According to Arenas, people know Tyson's fight mannerisms, such as landing an uppercut after weaving left and right, and none of that was seen during the bout with Paul.
Roy Jones Jr.
The multiple Fight of the Year recipient explained how something didn't look right with Tyson during the bout. Jones was the last person to fight Tyson, and he claimed the man in that bout with Paul wasn't the same person he fought in 2020. He didn't attribute Tyson's loss to the fight being rigged, but he did claim that something was going on that prevented him from going all out.