Boxing will be in the spotlight on Friday night, with streaming giant Netflix broadcasting a live boxing card for the first time. 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and 27-year-old Internet personality Jake Paul meet at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Jerry Jones is going to see a significant sporting event at his stadium in a season where his Dallas Cowboys have been terrible (don’t ask him if the sun is blocking his view).
Mike Tyson, a man whose life contains a seemingly endless number of acts, will enter a boxing ring for the first time since a 2020 exhibition match against fellow legend Roy Jones Jr. Mike Tyson’s last professional fight came almost two decades ago, in June. 2005, when he lost to Kevin McBride.
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation has sanctioned Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul as a professional boxing match. The match will last eight two-minute rounds with Tyson and Paul wearing 14-ounce gloves. This fight was supposed to take place on July 20, but Tyson had an ulcer, so the event was postponed.
Why is 58-year-old Mike Tyson fighting again? The best question may be why Mike Tyson is allowed to fight again in a ring with 80,000 fans, broadcast worldwide. When Mike Tyson fought for the last time as a professional in June 2005, he lost by technical KO to the young career Kevin McBride. After the fight, Tyson said: “I don’t have the courage to be in this sport. I don’t want to disrespect the sport that I love. My heart is no longer in it. I feel sorry for the fans who paid for it. I wish I could have done better.” Now, here we are. It’s often said that power is the last thing a boxer loses with age, but this is taking that adage to the extreme.
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Jake Paul deserves credit for sticking with boxing. While his antics, thirst for publicity and general atmosphere may rub people the wrong way, Paul has been involved with the sport longer than anyone might have anticipated. Paul is 10-1 with seven knockouts in pro fights. However, the term pro-fight is a bit of a misnomer.
Of his eleven professional boxing bouts, his first two came against a YouTuber (Ali Eson Gib) and former NBA player Nate Robinson. Another five of his fights were against four mixed career artists: Ben Askren, two fights with Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva and Nate Diaz. Three of his boxing matches came against opponents whose first line on the resume said professional boxing. His lone loss came to Tommy Fury, the most legitimate boxer Jake Paul has faced (Tommy Fury is best known for being the younger brother of Tyson Fury and taking time off from boxing in 2019 to appear on the reality show Love Iceland).
After his defeat to Fury, Jake Paul quickly dispatched Andre August and Ryan Bourland, who are professional boxers, but were put in the ring against Jake Paul for a reason. In his last fight in July, when Mike Tyson had to withdraw from his planned fight, Paul fought MMA/naked boxing fighter Mike Perry. Next up is a 58-year-old man best known to Jake Paul fans for his cameos in the Hangover movies.
Jake Paul has done a lot of good things for boxing, though. He had more people talking about the sport, which boxing needs. Paul also got into the promotional side of the sport. Through his company, Most Valuable Promotions, Paul has run some events, helped lesser-known fighters gain notoriety, and helped women’s boxing gain more legitimacy and increase pay for its participants. The best known boxer in Jake Paul’s stable of fighters is future Hall of Famer Amanda Serrano. Just before Mike Tyson and Jake Paul enter the ring, Serrano will have a rematch with Ireland’s Katie Taylor in a showcase of two of the most important female boxers in the world.
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In April 2022, the first fight between Katie Taylor (23-1, 6 KO) and Amanda Serrano (47-2-1, 32 KO) took place and undoubtedly exceeded the hype. The fight was the first women’s boxing match to sell out Madison Square Garden and took place between two female boxing legends at the 135-pound limit. Taylor won by split decision in Sports Illustrated’s 2022 Fight of the Year and Ring Magazine’s Event of the Year.
The judges could score the fight in either direction. Serrano landed 173 punches to Taylor’s 147, including Serrano landing 44 punches in the two minutes of round five. But Taylor landed 39% of his punches compared to Serrano’s 28% connection rate. All three judges scored the last three rounds of the fight for Katie Taylor, who was the difference.
Since Taylor and Serrano fought about thirty months ago, Serrano has won five straight fights. Katie Taylor defeated Karen Elizabeth Carbajal before moving up to the 140 pound weight class. Taylor suffered her first career loss to Chantelle Cameron; Taylor invoked a rematch clause and defeated Cameron in the rematch. Taylor avenged his defeat and became the undisputed super-lightweight champion. Katie Taylor joined Claressa Shields as the only female boxers to be undisputed champions in two weight classes.
On Friday, Taylor vs. Serrano II will have Taylor’s super-lightweight championship on the line. In particular, the fight will take place at a catchweight of 138 pounds. Given the atmosphere of the stadium, the previous matchup, and months of simmering hostility, this fight will be electric. Serrano has extensive professional experience and will have a game plan to make sure the rematch ends differently than the first matchup. Of course, Katie Taylor will make adjustments on her own.
Katie Taylor graciously responded to critics asking why she agreed to fight on the undercard of Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul. “I think the fight in Madison Square Garden was very, very historic, and it inspired a lot of girls in the sport, but to have the opportunity to fight on Netflix with a huge audience, millions and millions of people will be watching. this fight, you’re going to see women’s boxing at its best and I think both me and Amanda are very, very grateful for this opportunity to be honest even though there may be some controversy about the main event , but me and Amanda are pure fighters.”
The growth of women’s boxing is something Taylor and Serrano are understandably passionate about. When Taylor started boxing as a teenager in the Republic of Ireland in the late 1990s, women were not legally allowed to box, so Taylor had to pretend to be a boy to box. Katie Taylor competed in the first officially sanctioned women’s boxing match in Ireland on October 31, 2001. From there, Taylor had a decorated amateur career, winning 176 times, losing twelve times, and drawing one fight. The capstone of Taylor’s amateur career was winning a gold medal for the Republic of Ireland at the 2012 London Olympics, the first Olympic Games to feature women’s boxing. In November 2016, Taylor entered the professional ranks.
Meanwhile, Amanda Serrano took a different path to success. She turned professional at the age of 20 in 2009. Fifteen years ago, women’s boxing was seen as a novelty, if it was even recognized, and the beginning of Serrano’s career developed in a relative darkness Compared to Katie Taylor, who had all her fights televised around the world, Serrano fought in front of a small crowd. Throughout his career, Serrano has taken on all challengers, moving up in weight classes or down to lower weight classes to take on anyone. The success and length of Serrano’s career are a testament to his mental and physical discipline.
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Friday night will be a show. In a way, it’s fitting that this card will air on Netflix. Some people will tune in for the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul carnival. Anything could happen, literally. Will Mike Tyson destroy some Prime energy drinks to get under Paul’s skin? After already giving Tyson a pigeon a few days ago, will Jake Paul criticize Mike Tyson’s Broadway show? Anyone hoping to see a big boxing match will be disappointed. But for fans looking for quality boxing, Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano will be there to check that box. Friday’s historic boxing card on Netflix will have something for everyone. In an environment of viewers and the global population where everything seems to be becoming more segmented, maybe that’s a good thing.
