The 22nd November 2024 marks 38 years to the day when Mike Tyson defeated Trevor Berbick for the WBC heavyweight championship of the world, becoming the youngest person in history to do so at 20 years old. Just one week shy of this anniversary, and almost 20 years after last stepping foot in a professional ring, Mike Tyson once again laced up the gloves to face Jake Paul in a sanctioned boxing contest.
The hope was – with Tyson’s abundance of experience at the highest level, he would be able to cause some problems for the inexperienced younger man, and the shorter 2 minute rounds would give him the best chance of delivering just one more highlight reel knockout for fans, who may not even have been alive the last time he fought professionally.
Ultimately, what we saw was simply a fight between a 58-year-old man against another in his twenties. Father time, as they say, is undefeated; and this bout was another reminder of that lesson. Jake Paul weathered a scary first round or two before fatigue set in with Tyson, and Paul was able to control the rest of the fight, using his youth to his advantage.
During the live broadcast, the commentary team commented that this fight featured the biggest ever age discrepancy between opposing fighters in a sanctioned bout, and that pretty much set the tone for the remainder of the show. Fortunately, after the event was said and done, both men came out of it unharmed, but this fight lives as a reminder that age is a massive factor when it comes to combat sports, and putting a legend of the game in an outmatched position which could have seen him badly hurt makes for a sour taste in the mouth.
The rise of influencer and crossover boxing has seen many long retired champions return to the ring, and sometimes to devastating effect (If you remember Evander Holyfield vs Vitor Belfort several years back). Although these fights are an avenue for older fighters to get one last big payday (reportedly Mike Tyson received $20 million vs Jake Paul), it’s not worth the risk to long term health, and sometimes the ‘what if?’ fight scenarios should remain hypothetical.
Nearly 4 years ago, we saw Mike Tyson compete against Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition bout, which was a fun matchup for fans to see two icons of the sport perform against one another in a ‘safe’ environment. Fans will always have an appetite to see their favourite fighters of the past return to the ring, but if anything can be learned from Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson, it’s that exhibitions should be the only place we see these legends in action.
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