Despite the initial hype for the fight, that anticipation quickly died down when both Jake Paul and Mike Tyson essentially engaged in a sparring session in front of the 70,000 fans in attendance—and the millions watching at home.
Both sides looked primed and ready to perform heading into the bout but that wasn’t the case once the fight got underway. The pair barely threw any power shots and ‘The Problem Child’ refused to engage in close quarters with the knockout artist, though he has since cleared up why that was the case.
According to Jake Paul, his less than satisfactory performance was all by design. The controversial star claimed that he let Mike Tyson off the hook instead of pushing the pace against the 58-year-old.
“Yeah, definitely [took my foot off the gas],” Paul told media during the post-fight press conference. “Definitely a bit.”
“I wanted to give the fans a show but I didn’t want to hurt someone that didn’t need to be hurt.”
Jake Paul later revealed that after being slapped by Mike Tyson at the weigh-ins, he wanted to hurt him in the fight but that feeling subsided as the rounds went by.
“[I carried him] a little bit. There was a point where I was just like he’s not really engaging back and I don’t know if he’s tired or whatever.”
“I could just tell his age was showing a little bit.”
“I just have so much respect for him and that violence/war thing between us, after he slapped me I wanted to be aggressive and take him down and knock him out and all that stuff but that kind of went away as the rounds went on.”
Related: UFC fighters react to Jake Paul’s one-sided win over Mike Tyson
Criticism has been flooding in following the aftermath of the bout, but Jake Paul is unfazed by the backlash.
“I tried to give the best fight I possibly could. When someone’s just surviving kn the ring, basically, it’s hard to make it exciting.”
“I couldn’t rrally get him to engage me or slip shots and do something super cool or whatever.”
“I don’t care what people have to say. They’re always going to have something to say and it is what it is.”
