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.

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.

Jake Paul explained why he didn’t knock Mike Tyson out (Getty Images / Brett Carlsen / Stringer)

Iron Mike held his own and saw it through to the end.

But it wasn’t enough to land him the title.

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.

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.”

He shared how he felt fighting his hero (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

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.

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.

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).

Jake Paul believes he has identified Mike Tyson’s ‘biggest weakness’ ahead of the controversial fight.

While some boxing fans believe that no 58-year-old – even ‘Iron Mike’ – has any business going up against a young and fit 27-year-old, it appears that the duo are well up for it.

Just last night, tensions appeared to boil over when Tyson delivered an angry slap to the face of the YouTuber during the weight in.

Paul went on a massive rant afterwards, calling his opponent an ‘angry elf’.

Now, if you’ve ever heard Paul speak, you know he’s a very confident guy who already thinks he’s won the mental battle before the fight, which will be available to stream live on Netflix.

“Mike’s biggest weakness is actually himself. His own mental state going into the fight,” the content creator told SPORTbible.

Paul says he’s going to ‘kill’ Tyson (Ayisha Collins/Getty Images for Netflix © 2024)

“I believe I already triggered that with the last press conference. I don’t think he liked when I was staring at him, that really bothered him.

“I think he saw that I have no fear of him in my eyes and that’s why he was such a powerful and ruthless champion, even before fights people were scared of getting knocked out by him, and his antics and aura.

“Him just looking like a vicious person. For me, I just don’t have that and he saw that in my eyes.

“I believe I have a mental edge here and I think he is underestimating me, truly. I know he’s training hard but the way he was talking about me – ‘he doesn’t have power, he couldn’t knock out Tommy Fury and Nate Diaz’.

Tyson delivered a brutal slap to Paul at the weigh in last night (Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

“Those are true things but I was a much different fighter then. With every year that goes by, I progress exponentially.

“Especially with the new team that I brought on after those fights.

“I think with the mind games, he isn’t prepared for the new version of who I am as a fighter.”

Speaking to the BBC, Tyson said he is in the best shape of his life and that his fitness coaches have not been ‘taking it easy on me’.

“They want to see if I quit or not and I’m still here. All the training is over now. The fight is the party, the training is preparation, but the fight is the party,” he said.

The undercard for Jake Paul Vs Mike Tyson will start around 1am in the UK and their fight is expected to take place around 4 am.

Interview conducted by Rory O’Callaghan

Mike Tyson was the one who pushed for a controversial rule change in his upcoming fight with Jake Paul.

Everyone has been excited about the prospect of Iron Mike taking on the YouTuber since it was announced.

While some thought it might never go ahead with how long we’ve had to wait, it’s finally around the corner.

As the first-of-its-kind Netflix streamed event, Brits only have to wait until 4am for it to kick off at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, USA.

Considering someone paid $2 million for a ticket and more than 70,000 people are expected to be in attendance, it’s surely going to be worth the watch.

But there’s something you may not know about the rules, which is all down to Tyson’s request.

The pair will face-off at 4am (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

The biggest ever American boxing event outside of Las Vegas will see there be shorter rounds and fewer of them too.

The rounds will be two minutes long instead of three, and there will be eight rounds in total instead of 12.

The rules for this fight are different than standard heavyweight fights, and their gloves will weight 14 pounds instead of 10.

As his first pro bout since his defeat to Ireland’s Kevin McBride almost 20 years ago, Tyson has been scaring fans with his crazy eyes as he gears up for the win this time around.

‘Iron Mike’ put forward the request to the local commission to change the rounds, as he believes it’ll give fans more entertainment.

“I wanted shorter rounds for more action. If we have shorter rounds, we’ll fight more. More action,” he has said when asked why he was requesting a rule change.

Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, shared: “It was [Tyson’s] choice, not that Jake didn’t want to do it [as a sanctioned fight].

“We were bringing Mike Tyson back into the sport, and I believe that it was more meaningful as a pro fight.”

Jake Paul is about to have the fight of his life (Instagram/@jakepaul)

The 58-year-old has been showing off his hand speed in the run up to his fight against the 27-year-old YouTuber.

During his session at Tuesday’s open workout, his fans were left amazed at how much he’s been preparing for the bout.

He went on to speak in the ring after the open workout, and said: “When I agreed to this fight and I started training, I said, ‘What the [expletive] am I thinking of?’

“And I finished the process and now the fight’s the party.

“All the hard work is done.”

Both men have been battling with their tempers hours before the fight, with Iron Mike slapping Paul at their promo meet-up.

Considering Tyson hasn’t fought in a pro setting since 2005, and only returned to action in 2020 when he came up against Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition, fans are excited to see him back in the ring.

Paul, who is relatively new, has 11 pro fights to his name and hasn’t been seen since his TKO victory over Mike Perry last July.

Let’s see how the shorter rounds benefit the competitors in tonight’s fight.

Jake Paul has made a high stakes bet with Katie Taylor ahead of tonight’s controversial fight.

The 27-year-old YouTuber turned boxer has his sights set on taking on the 58-year-old Mike Tyson with fans eagerly waiting to see what happens.

With Netflix set to host its first ever live broadcast at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, all eyes are on the pair.

With the interactions the two have been having lately, it’s looking like it’ll be a fight to remember.

Paul has said he wants to face off against the ‘old savage Mike‘, Tyson has since made his intentions clear after he slapped the content creator across the face during their weigh in.

Jake Paul’s bet with Katie Taylor means a lot (Ed Mulholland/Getty Images)

You won’t have to wait long as the fight is due to take place at 4am UK time where 280 million online viewers will watch it from the comfort of their own homes.

Not only is Paul and Tyson fighting, but also Taylor and Amanda Serrano, who are part of the undercard.

And when Taylor, along with fellow undercard fighters Bruce Carrington, Mario Barrios and Neeraj Goyat, said they thought Tyson would win the fight, Paul furiously challenged them to put their money where their mouth is.

It was during a press conference on Wednesday November 13 that when host Ariel Helwani asked fighters on the undercard who they think will win, most chose Tyson.

This led to an angry Paul deciding to wager a bet after jumping up and asking them ‘how much?’.

Goyat put his property in India, which he claimed was worth more than $1 million, on the line, while Taylor responded: “Well, do you want to bet your purse?”

Paul and Tyson are gearing up to fight for the title of victor (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Paul has claimed his purse for the Tyson fight is $40 million, while Taylor’s own purse is rumoured to be $6.1 million.

So there’s a fair bit of money on the line.

While this will be Tyson’s first professional bout in nearly 20 years, he is still the former heavyweight champion.

In response to a question about whether he will lose to Paul, he shouted at a reporter in the crowd: “I am not going to lose, did you hear what I said?”

During a conversation with BBC Sport, Tyson when was asked about Paul, he had some scary words for his opponent.

He shared that he thinks that ‘Jake is a great person’, but he is also an ‘inferior’ fighter which means that he’s ‘in a lot of trouble’ when they fight in a few hours.

People in the comments of the TikTok video, viewers were quick to recognise one detail which means that it’s over for Paul once he steps foot inside of the ring.

One person wrote: “The eyes are back!!!!”

Another commented: “The thousand yard stare is terrifying.”

Someone else said: “This Tyson is more scary than Iron Mike. The calm and collected but straight killer eyes and mind. This is going to be interesting.”

One other user wrote: “That is not the same Mike Tyson I’m used to seeing. He doesn’t even look like the same man. Jake Paul awakened the darkness in Mike, and you can physically see it in his face.”

We’ll have to wait and see whether Paul is the victor in the fight and in the bet against Taylor.