Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.com
A 27-year-old YouTuber turned professional boxer and a 58-year-old, retired professional boxer are set to face off on November 15th in perhaps one of the most legendary matchups of all time.
Jake Paul, who has been boxing since 2018, and Mike Tyson, who boxed from 1985 to 2005 agreed to the fight back in March of 2024. Their boxing match was originally scheduled for July 20, but had to be postponed when Tyson had an ulcer flare-up leading up to the competition.
The fight be a boxing match made up of a maximum of eight two-minute rounds, ending either after the last round or when someone is knocked-out. The pair will box in the heavyweight category of which Tyson was the undisputed world champion. Paul, while smaller than Tyson (a cruiser weight) has the advantage of youth on his side.
With the winner set to earn 40 million dollars and immense amounts of attention from the media, and the possibility of proving himself, how could either resist such a match? This once-in-a-lifetime fight has SAU students talking.
SAU senior Donnie Schachel feels strongly about this issue. He thinks Mike Tyson will win because he is “just primal.”
Sophomore Corey McAleer echoed that sentiment saying, “Mike Tyson is gonna send that man into the next dimension. Mike Tyson is Mike Tyson, and it’ll be funny to see Jake Paul get beat up.”
Of course, McAleer is referring to Tyson’s past success as a boxer with a career record of 50 wins and 44 knockouts, not to mention being the youngest heavyweight champion ever.
However, according to CBS Sports, Paul is favored to come out on top at -330 favorite (risk $330 to win $100) to win with Tyson a +250 underdog.
Junior Erik Koopman agrees with the CBS prediction. “Jake Paul will win primarily because the contracts have it completely rigged in his favor,” he stated, “Plus Mike Tyson is what, 70?”
There has been much controversy surrounding this match-up, with some people like Koopman claiming that the event will be rigged or scripted for a certain outcome. These claims haven’t been proven at this point in time, though it is likely that the match will place emphasis on the entertainment factor.
Koopman also mentioned an important factor going into this match. Tyson is 30 years older than Paul and it’s necessary to consider how he will fare against his younger opponent at nearly 60-years-old now. Additionally, he has been retired for 20 years while Paul is a current boxer.
Stephen Schroeder, a sophomore, doesn’t think age will be a deciding factor in this face-off.
“I believe that although Mike is significantly older and more out of his physical prime, he still has enough to beat Jake Paul,” Schoeder stated. “Tyson has shown in his training sessions that he still has the ability to keep up. With that and the chip on his shoulder to prove he ain’t done yet, I believe he could definitely make some noise, not just in this fight, but in the boxing world as a whole.”
SAU senior Cole Negen feels this is a match that’s almost impossible to predict given all the unique factors that go into it including Tyson’s age and Paul’s inexperience fighting actual boxers.
“If I had to pick I’m gonna say Paul. I think he’s gonna just try to survive in the early rounds and land enough weak punches to get a decision when age eventually catches up to Tyson,” Negen stated. “Luckily for Tyson this is only 8 rounds and not 12, so his conditioning might hold up, but being 58 is going to eventually catch up to you, especially against a much younger opponent.”
