Mike Tyson released short training videos prior to his fight with Jake Paul. The videos showed the 58-year-old looking every bit like the “Kid Dynamite” nickname he earned as a younger fighter.
To say it another way: after watching the videos, you’d have to be a lunatic to get in the ring with Iron Mike.
Now, fans are posting those videos or commenting on them and suggesting they are proof that he was pulling his punches during last Friday’s fight.
The training videos show an uber-aggressive Tyson moving with serious speed and power, the exact opposite of what he delivered with his punches against Paul.
One such video even came from the “ultimate POV” – that of Tyson’s trainer.
Mike Tyson, 57, showing a first-person POV of what Jake Paul be facing on July 20th…
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) April 7, 2024
[🎥 @MikeTyson] pic.twitter.com/UIVxmpHINR
Pulled Their Punches?
Did you see any of the above ruthless aggression from Tyson during his fight with Paul? It doesn’t mean that the bout was rigged, but still. What gives?
Beyond the first 10 seconds, Tyson barely moved in the ring, shuffling about like he was wading through quicksand, watching punches come at him and doing nothing about it.
@menshealthuk Well they don't call him 'Iron Mike' for nothing… 😮💨 48 hours to go 🥊 📹 X: MikeTyson #MikeTyson #JakePaul #Boxing ♬ original sound – Men’s Health UK
“That is not how Mike Tyson fought,” one TikTokker commented on a training video.
Another joked, “Okay, maybe now I’m convinced it was rigged.”
Others posted to X their own conspiracy theories about the Tyson-Paul fight being rigged.
It’s this moment right here that proves two things
— St. Sola (@STSOLA808) November 16, 2024
1) Mike Tyson held back
2) Match was rigged
That is a classic Tyson punch typically followed by right hook left hook right upper cut while he walks and rushes forward.
Clearly here you can see that start but he held back, he… pic.twitter.com/4DFA1XeMKd
RELATED: Rumor Mill: Did Mike Tyson And Jake Paul ‘Legally’ Agree To Rig The Fight?
Tyson Fight Rigged?
First off, I’m going to play devil’s advocate here a bit with those Tyson training videos. Yes, they stirred the nostalgia in those who saw them, and they were a-w-e-s-o-m-e.
That said, they were mostly 10-second clips. Complete with cleverly used quick jump cuts. Heavily edited.
Second, I get that the fight probably wasn’t rigged from a traditional standpoint. The outcome doesn’t seem to have been pre-determined. But many have speculated that both Mike and Jake pulled their punches, so neither man ended up hurt.
That, my friends, is a rigged fight.
DJ Whoo Kid added to the controversy, suggesting the two fighters had a quiet legal agreement not to hurt each other. and that the admission came from a conversation with Paul himself.
“Saturday, Jake Paul came and I talked to him,” Kid said in a social media video. “This is the problem. This is what happened. Legally, they each cannot go at each other hard because if Mike hits Jake Paul, like really hit him. … He still has it.”
Paul even admitted in interviews that he “definitely” pulled his punches, fearing he could “hurt someone that didn’t need to be hurt.”
Isn’t a KO a goal during a legitimate boxing match?
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