Massive Mike Tyson-Jake Paul tilt brings the spectacle, but fight itself fails to deliver

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Throughout the buildup to what is being billed as the biggest fight in boxing history, there were many questions being asked.

Is Mike Tyson too old to be stepping back in the ring?

Is Jake Paul a good enough boxer to stand against one of the greatest to ever do it?

Will this whole thing be a sham, or an actual, competitive contest?

The one thing that was never in doubt, though, was if Tyson and Paul could bring the spectacle.

On Friday night, the show delivered — even if their fight didn’t.

The buzz in the building was palpable. Nothing that Paul does is on a small scale and this was no exception.

Every time that when Paul and Tyson were shown on the stadium’s enormous jumbotron — from entering the stadium to warming up or in promo packages — fans vociferously booed and cheered for the combatants, respectively.

While Paul did score a couple points by entering the ring to Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight, Iron Mike had the 70,000+ fans in attendance at their feet as he stepped between the ropes for the first time in years.

Once the bell rang, Tyson threw a couple punches in the first round that had Paul maybe thinking twice about this boxing endeavour, but the young gun was smart to use his speed to get out of dodge when he could.

The thrill was short-lived, however.

Paul would get in close to the icon, grabbing on to get the ref to step in several times – much to the crowd’s chagrin and, in the third round, the match started to turn.

Paul actually appeared to stagger Tyson with some lefts and the 58-year-old soon was starting to look tired.

The crowd grew restless after little of consequence happened in the next few frames. After six rounds, Paul had thrown more than twice as many punches 200-87 and outlanded Tyson 59-16.

Even as he probably realized he was behind on the judges’ cards, Tyson only could muster a couple of flurries before getting gassed.

The end result was a unanimous decision in favour of Paul being announced as fans flooded towards the exits.

Tyson was then asked if he was happy with the fight and result.

“Absolutely happy,” Tyson said.

At least someone was.

SETTING RECORDS

The night might’ve ended with a whimper, but in the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, there was no shortage of star power for the blockbuster event, sponsored by CELSIUS Energy Drinks and broadcast worldwide on Netflix – though there were some apparent issues on that front to be addressed later.

Before the main card even kicked off, Most Valuable Promotions announced that the show had shattered the record for the biggest gate outside of Las Vegas in U.S. history.

Tyson-Paul raked in more $17.8 million in ticket sales alone – more than double the business that Canelo Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders drew in 2021 at the same venue.

SERRANO-TAYLOR II A BLOODY GOOD BOUT

While the headliners didn’t deliver, fans got more than their fill of thrilling action in the co-main.

Expectations were high for the co-main event between Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor after the two put on arguably the greatest women’s fight ever and they both came out swinging in Arlington.

Serrano got the crowd going early after sending Taylor into the ropes after a nasty left and the two kept trading.

In the fourth round, Serrano got busy once again, landing a series of blows that got the crowd going. But it was the American that was left worse for wear after the round, getting a cut above her right eye after what appeared to be a headbutt from Taylor.

By midway into the sixth, the referee had to call time mid-round for the ringside doctor to take a look at the cut, which had only grown bigger and started to leak even more blood as the fight went on. The crowd gasped as a close-up shot of Serrano’s face was shown on the jumbotron.

After a closer examination, the fight went on and the boxers picked up the pace — perhaps Serrano knew that a stoppage could be called at any time.

Taylor kept going after the cut in the eighth round and the ref had seen enough of the Irish fighter trying to use her head and braids to open up the gash further. After one warning, the champ was docked a point. From there on, the ref made a concerted effort to keep the fighters from clinching too tightly.

That didn’t stop the women from throwing and landing several quick and vicious combos on each other.

In the end, Taylor scored a razor-thin unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the fight 95-94. The crowd booed the decision, thinking the Serrano was robbed after throwing and landing more punches by a wide margin.

It was another classic and no one will complain if/when these two warriors make it a trilogy.

PUTTING ON A SHOW

For lack of a better phrase, Neeraj Goyat knew the assignment.

The Indian fighter made sure to put on a show during the first match of the main card – even walking his opponent, Whindersson Nunes, into the corner and giving him a dry hump.

Goyat used some great head movement to avoid the Brazilian’s attacks and threw solid counters throughout the six-round match.

The only thing that he didn’t do was score a knockout, having to settle for a unanimous decision win to move to 19-4 with two draws.

After showing some character and showmanship in the ring, Goyat surely gained some popularity outside of his homeland. The showman already has appeared in a couple of Bollywood films and reality shows, but after becoming the first Indian boxer to be ranked by the WBC, expect to see more of him in the near future.

SOUTHWEST SLUGFEST

Mario Barros and Abel Ramos exchanged some heavy blows and traded a couple of knockdowns during their 12-round welterweight title fight.

A straight right from the champ Barrios nearly sent Ramos down to one knee in the first round, but the challenger was quick to recover.

In the second round, Ramos wasn’t so lucky, getting put on his back by a left hook-straight right combo. To his credit, he sprung back up and didn’t back down.

His tenacity paid off in the sixth round when he sent the champ to the floor with a powerful shot. Barrios got back to his feet, but clearly was in trouble for the rest of the frame.

In the end, the three judges couldn’t separate the two fighters with one judge scoring it 116-110 Barrios, another 114-112 Ramos and the third a 113-113 draw.

As a result, Barrios retains his WBC welterweight world title.

THE WHIP GETS CRACKED

Shadasia Green scored a split decision victory over Canadian Melinda ‘The Whip’ Watpool to capture the vacant WBO super middleweight world title.

Watpool, of Pefferlaw, Ont., looked strong at midrange and in close, but Green’s powerful shots from longer range did the most damage.

One judge scored the fight 96-94 for Watpool, but the Sweet Terminator had scores of 97-93 and 96-94 in her favour.

Watpool’s underdog effort was admirable against a fighter that already had one title challenge and more than twice as many professional bouts under her belt.

CONTENT CANADIAN

In a battle of undefeated fighters, Canadian Lucas Bahdi scored a majority decision victory over Armando Casamonica.

Two judges had the Niagara Falls, Ont., fighter win the match by scores of 96-93 and 98-92, while the third scored the fight as a draw at 95-95.

Casamonica had been the more aggressive fighter, coming forward for most of the match and even began taunting the counter-puncher in the sixth round.

Had Bahdi dropped the decision, you could bet he would be upset. Casamonica had missed weight by three pounds for the lightweight contest.

OPENING ONSLAUGHT

In the first fight of the night, Bruce ‘Shu Shu’ Carrington put in a dominant effort to score a unanimous decision win over Australia’s Dana Coolwell.

Carrington pitched a shutout on the judges’ cards with all three scoring the fight 80-70. Shu Shu, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., knocked down Coolwell in both the fourth and eighth rounds.

You have to give Coolwell a lot of credit, though, for absorbing as much punishment as he did and sticking it out to go the distance.

Carrington improves to 14-0 and looks to be destined for bigger and better things.

QUICK JABS

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones caught a ton of flak, first from his players and then from sports fans in general, after CeeDee Lamb complained about being blinded by the sun and dropped a potential TD last week. While the star WR called for curtains to put be put up during late afternoon games, Jones balked at the idea. However, with the big event getting a similar start time, AT&T Stadium opted to draw the shades, much to the delight of many in the building and on social media … While you’re always going to see movement when it comes to betting lines before big fights, something fairly wild happened with the co-main event. Katie Taylor, who had been favoured at around -150 earlier this week, had fallen to become a massive +200 underdog against Amanda Serrano by the time they stepped in the ring. It looks like anyone that played the waiting game on Taylor reaped the rewards.

FIGHT CARD

MAIN CARD

Jake Paul def. Mike Tyson via unanimous decision

Katie Taylor def. Amanda Serrano via unanimous decision for the undisputed super lightweight world title

Mario Barrios vs. Abel Ramos for the WBC welterweight world title ends in split draw

Neeraj Goyat def. Whindersson Nunes via unanimous decision

PRELIMINARY FIGHTS

Shadasia Green def. Melinda Watpool via split decision for the WBO super middleweight world title

Lucas Bahdi def. Armando Casamonica via majority decision

Shu Shu Carrington Jr. def. Dana Coolwell via unanimous decision

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