Jake Paul won a unanimous decision victory over Mike Tyson on Friday night in Arlington, Texas. The lackluster fight saw the old Mike Tyson, not the old Mike Tyson.
Tyson revealed the reason for the fight’s delay which was to take place in July.
For those not familiar with Tyson, this could be overblown. Recall he told Jim Gray he broke his back the week of a fight. Still, it was clear that people were mum on Mike’s health issues. The promoters were working with the state of Texas which is very lenient with its handling of combat sports. You may recall that Texas cleared the Dada 5000-Kimbo Slice fight in 2016.
Payout Perspective:
While it was not the ending Tyson wanted, it could have been worse. The reason why states have athletic commissions to oversee events like these is to ensure that the combatants are healthy and will not die. Deaths could lead to serious legal ramifications. More importantly, the athlete’s death. Texas did not release the weights of the fighters after the weigh-ins and I’m sure that the media did not know of any health issues from Tyson since that would have been kept confidential. Outside of the inner circle of the promotion and Tyson’s team, its not known whether or not Tyson was healthy enough to fight Friday. The good news is no one died.
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