ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jake Paul believes he can fight for a championship belt within two years.
Mike Tyson might be finished in the ring after the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion’s first sanctioned pro bout since 2005.
An event hyped like a prize fight turned into a glorified sparring session, the eight-round bout won by Paul in a lopsided unanimous decision at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys on Friday night.
There will continue to be questions for Paul over when he will fight a contender in his prime, as opposed to aging former champs, mixed martial artists or journeymen boxers.
The 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer’s answers have been consistent, and now he has a timeline.
“I think it could happen in the next 24 months,” Paul said. “I truly, truly believe in my skills and my ability and my power. And the cruiserweight division is seemingly open for the taking on that timeline.”
Tyson, whose last fight before retiring was a loss to Kevin McBride 19 years ago, said he was confident in taking on Paul because of an entertaining exhibition against Roy Jones Jr. in front of no fans during the pandemic in 2020.
A shorter fight (instead of 10 or 12 rounds) with shorter rounds (two minutes instead of three) and heavier gloves fell far short of entertaining.
The International Boxing Hall of Famer came at Paul hard in the opening seconds, and briefly again to start the second round. Otherwise, he mostly let Paul come to him, and Paul said he thought Tyson was too fatigued to be a threat beyond the third round.
Still, Tyson wouldn’t say immediately afterward it was his last fight after the officially recorded loss dropped his record to 50-7 with 44 knockouts.
“It depends on the situation,” Tyson said before suggesting a fight with Paul’s older brother, Logan Paul, who was standing near him in the ring.
“I’ll kill you, Mike,” Logan Paul shot back, using an expletive for emphasis.
But Tyson said he had gone in the ring “one last time” in a social media post Saturday that provided details about the health scare he faced that forced the postponement from the fight’s original date this summer.
“I almost died in June,” Tyson wrote on X. “Had 8 blood transfusions. Lost half my blood and 25lbs in hospital and had to fight to get healthy to fight so I won.”
There’s no question the younger Paul will be back in the ring. The former social media influencer started boxing about 4 1/2 years ago and has always said he wants to be a championship fighter.
“He’s a very good fighter,” said Tyson, the undisputed heavyweight champ from 1987-90, after Paul won 80-72 on one judge’s scorecard and 79-73 on the other two.
Paul still has plenty to prove, though. He is 11-1 with seven knockouts, the only loss to Tommy Fury, the less-accomplished brother of former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
The former Disney Channel star has proven he can create hype for just about any fight.
The first live sports event on the streaming platform Netflix drew tens of millions of viewers, with Paul suggesting it was 120 million while saying the company he co-founded, Most Valuable Promotions, would provide numbers Tuesday.
According to reports, Paul’s payday was $40 million, compared with $20 million for Tyson. Paul mentioned his number during a promotional event over the summer.
Organizers estimated the AT&T Stadium crowd at 72,000, and it appeared to be a legitimate number. Netflix said 60 million households watched the main event.
“There may never be another moment like this in boxing, but I believe we can find something,” Paul said. “And I think there are a few names out there that make sense, that the events will be just as big.”
In the days before his fight with Tyson, Paul mentioned super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, considered one of the best boxers in the world.
An opponent of that magnitude is probably at least several fights away for Paul, and it might not be long before age becomes an issue for the 34-year-old Alvarez.
Paul’s camp will never question its ability to put on a show.
“Boxing is ebbs and flows, ups and downs, big events, small events, medium-size events,” said Nakisa Bidarian, Paul’s promoter. “Our philosophy is it’s not about what is the decision that happens in the ring. It’s about the attitude that you have and the product you create and how you entertain the fans. And there’s no more entertaining of an athlete than Jake Paul.”
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Schuyler Dixon, The Associated Press