Boxing was my first sport. My Godfather was heavyweight. My father knew a number of fighters.
He was a fan. I grew up as a small kid around boxing. Some of my early memories were of my father and his friends coming over to watch Gillette Cavalcade of Sports. The greatest fighters of the time were on that show.
Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, Archie Moore, Rocky Graziano, Kid Gavilan.
This upcoming "fight" is more of an exhibition. Two minutes rounds using 14oz. gloves instead of 10oz. Eight round fight.
Tyson is 58. Paul 31.
All I am is curious. It is a spectacle.
I don't know a thing about Paul. I know plenty about Tyson.
I expect Tyson to knock him out early. If it goes beyond five rounds Tyson might fall over.
Paul is in for a shock when he gets hit. I mean gets hit anywhere.
At the same time stamina means a lot if Paul stays away from him.
The thing is they're not using traditional professional boxing weight gloves. Most professional matches require either 8oz. or 10oz gloves. They will be using 14oz. gloves which are used more commonly in sparring to protect opponents from being hurt. This gives the puncher, Tyson in this example, a disadvantage.
I fear that at age 58 Tyson won't have the speed or reaction time he did back in the day. Mush less the stamina as you have mentioned. He hasn't fought in a professional bout since June of 1995 and even at that time he seemed to have lost a step. I think the only way Tyson has a chance is if he can somehow corner Paul. But at age 31 I think Paul may still possess the speed to avoid Tyson's strength until he tires him out.
I'm rooting for Tyson but my brain says don't bet on it.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
On a side note, Rocky Marciano: My grandpa started a business, and things were going well. He even had Marciano spend the night at his house and do publicity for grandpas business. That goes way back, before my time.
I know people love to hate Paul but he's actually become a decent boxer. 14oz gloves pretty much take a surprise Tyson KO out of the mix. The two minute rounds add some legs to the fight. I expect Tyson to go down in the 5th or 6th.
Long ago I went to a training session where Roberto Duran was training. It was actually in a barn out in Chesterland.
Duran was training for a middleweight fight in Cleveland. I was damn near in the ring. Right next to the ropes.
Duran floored a sparring partner with a body punch. Watching him hit the heavy bag was incredible. He was about 155 lbs at the time moving up from welterweight.
If Duran hit you there is no way a normal person survives.
Paul has no idea how hard Tyson can hit even at 58.
I would agree with nearly all of that if I didn't watch Tyson/Jones. Granted it was an exhibition, but there were some tell-tale signs of loss of power and a significant loss of speed. Tyson, in his prime, was a bulldog. Part of that bulldog mentality created a fighter who had opponents on their heels because they feared the power. He was always lunging toward you. He knew he could walk through punches and his opponents knew there was hell on the other end. They practically ran backwards from him (if they were smart) and learned to pick their shots (if they wanted to compete).
Tyson got caught a couple times doing that against Jones... and Jones was 51... and that was four years ago. In fact, I'll predict that if this is a real fight, the KO will come when Tyson luges at Paul and gets caught squarely on the chin.
Apart from that. Damn. That story about Duran puts me right back in that era. Duran, Leonard, Hagler & Hearns. I've always been of the opinion that those four set the bar so high that boxing, as a sport, could never recover.
If this is legit Tyson knocks Paul out within two rounds.
These are two minutes rounds which will give Mike a breather to a degree.
I see Mike being patient and not rushing like a rabid dog. He is good boxer who knows how to set up punches. He knows how to slip punches. He knows where to hit you.
Paul will get a real taste of what real power feels like.
Paul's best chance is movement and jab. Keep off the ropes and away from the corners.
I have not seen anything from Paul so I don't know his ability as far really being a boxer. If he tries to exchange with Mike he will get knocked out.
Tyson's challenge is stamina. Fatigue makes you look silly in a ring. If Mike tires and gets caught with a good punch he will get floored.
Paul is a young guy who is athletic and strong. He lacks real boxing experience.
They both will make a pile of money for an exhibition.
BTW... there's a three episode docu-drama on Netflix with all the training and hoopla leading up to the fight. Can't say if it's good or not as I just started watching, seems pretty cool so far and it's narrated by the legendary Iced T.
Current betting odds has Paul as the heavy favorite. He set up the bout to promote himself as an influencer after a ayahausca journey, so naturally he should win, continue to build his brand and Tyson will collect a sizeable paycheck for his role in the show/event. Paul collecting $40M for the fight and Tyson lands a nice haul of $20M.
After about the fourth time I chose "start from beginning" and raced up to about 20 minutes behind live, only had one minor freeze after that.
This was a spectacle that did not need to happen. It's not fun to watch. It's bad enough when any superstar doesn't know when to quit, it's beyond cringe in the boxing ring. I feel like Paul backed off after the fourth and gave Mike a few rounds to hang out and finish on his feet instead of his back. That said, Jake did nothing to impress me or anyone else.
Two great fights on the undercard. Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano was an all out war, despite the constant headbutts and a cut as bad as any I've ever seen. Serrano was robbed, but damn, what a warrior.
Sorry for the nostalgic squad, but this is what I expected.
Tyson was way slow in his reactions and he had no legs....big surprise(not)
Like Paul or not, question his fights, but the guy can punch hard. After the 1st round it was evident that Tyson was not going to do anything. I am thankful that Paul backed off and didn't kill Mike in the ring.
Just like you can't fool with Mother Nature, and she can swat you down, Father time doesn't stop for anybody and tick by tick will suck your life away.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
I had Barrios up by two rounds, and I felt a bit generous giving Ramos the eighth, it was very close. The fact that a judge scored it 116-110 the other way just shows that he should never judge a fight again. Both those decisions were garbage, but the Serrano decision is the biggest reason I gave up on boxing -- it's gotten worse and worse.
Paul hasn't beaten any one who matters or has been ranked anywhere near the top 20. Even Tyson Fury's brother Tommy beat him. Which Tommy was given the rank of 39th after beating Paul. So I suppose Paul can add, "I beat the crap out of an old man" to his bragging rights now.
I saw what I feared I would see. I too am glad that Paul didn't take advantage of the situation which it appeared he could have. Both handled the post fight interview with dignity and class. That's what I viewed as the best part of their match. The rest of it was a sideshow.
I agree with the others that thought both Amanda Serrano and Mario Barrios won their bouts on the undercard.
As for the feed Netflix really screwed the pooch on this one. They eventually got it pretty much sorted out but it was a mess until they did.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Over forty five years ago one of my closest friends and I would check all the weekend TV for boxing matches.
ABC Wild World of Sports and CBS Sports Spectacular used to show championship fights especially weights under the heavyweight class.
Duran versus DeJesus. Danny Red Lopez. Carlos Monzon. Halgler. Hearns. Alexis Arguello. We would never miss anything.
Later as closed circuit started we would take any big fight day off. We were crazy for boxing. Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, Norton. We were all in. We always made the big fights a special event. It was a blast.
Irwin my buddy later became a boxing judge. He did a few big HBO fights. He traveled around and judged a lot of small fights. He did some undercards of big fights. We were really close friends. He got me autographs of Ali, Duran, and Holmes.
He passed away in 2020. Last night made me think of him. I texted another guy who was part of our boxing buddies last night. I told him a fight day always made me think of Irwin.
When Irwin got into judging I could have done it with him but I was married with kids and was way too busy.
Outside of Canelo Alvarez there is nobody that I would care to watch. Although I am sure there are some great young guys coming up.
I was right behind you by a few years. All the networks had boxing and we were adding ESPN and HBO to the mix. Didn't miss many fights in those days.
USA Network had Tuesday night fights with Sean O'Grady, and man, did he educate us all on the 'sweet science'. I never missed it. It was nice because over the years you could watch those young fighters grow up.
One of my all time favorites, maybe the most underappreciated ever, was Wilfred Benitez. Youngest world champion in boxing history at the age of 17, super-lightweight. I think he was the best defensive boxer of all time -- one of the highest boxing IQs as well. He moved through the ranks without real knockout power, and thus was a little lost in the mix of those champions in the early eighties.
His victory over Duran in 82, when he defended his WBC super welterweight title, was one of the all-time clinics in defense, speed and boxing IQ. I've probably seen all of Duran's fights and I've never seen him more frustrated. Much of the 14th and nearly all of the 15th, he invited Duran into the corner and beat him at his own game, with his back against the turnbuckle. A two round clinic in counter-punching. An embarrassed Duran would not even shake his hand after the fight.
Highlights here, full fight is also on YT, what a match.
I remember when Duran won the lightweight title from Kenny Buchanan.
He was amazing as a lightweight. He destroyed Pipino Cuevas to win the welterweight title.
The same Duran beat Iran Barkley for the middleweight title.
Duran fought Marvelous Marvin Hagler a great middleweight champion to the end and lost a narrow decision.
I loved watching Duran. He was a great total fighter.
I don't know who has watched the fighters from the forties and fifties. But IMO the greatest pound for pound fighter I have ever seen was
Sugar Ray Robinson. You can youtube his old fights. OMG. Speed, power, master boxer so fluid. Power in both hands.
Ray was the idle of Ali. Ali's boxing style came for Ray Robinson.
He turned professional in 1940 at the age of 19 and by 1951 had a professional record of 129–1–2 with 85 knockouts. From 1943 to 1951 Robinson went on a 91-fight unbeaten streak.
Jake Paul is 11-1. And he made more money than Ray Robinson in the Tyson exhibition than Robinson made in his career. Robinson made $4m for his career. Paul got over $40 for walking around for sixteen minutes.
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