Of the many monikers that Mike Tyson earned in his playing career, the one that stuck on is ‘The Baddest Man On The Planet’. From biting his rival’s ear to getting addicted to marijuana, alcohol and cocaine to hitting a co-passenger on a flight, Tyson often gave the impression that he loved getting mired in controversies. There was an inherent impression of reveling in the ‘bad boy’ persona. For someone, who won 44 out of 59 boxing bouts via knockouts, the title suited. And he walked his trash talk too. Tyson won his first 19 professional fights by knockout. In the late eighties and early nineties, he was an unstoppable force.
The downward spiral started in 1992 when he was convicted of rape and spent three years in jail. But Mike being Mike, he showed a resurgence in the mid-nineties regaining WBC and WBA titles. Though in the late 90s and early 2000s, two fights against Evander Holyfield (whose lost part of his ear due to Tyson’s biting) and Lennox Lewis all but sealed the end of his controversial but glorious career. Though he had a few inconsequential fights after that, those were nowhere near his heydays. His last officially sanctioned professional bout, a defeat to Irish journeyman Kevin McBride, happened in 2005.
Then came the announcement that Mike Tyson, now 58, would be making a comeback against YouTuber-turned-Boxer Jake Paul. The possibility of the fight rang the classic ‘yesterday once more’ theme. The carefully curated pre-fight videos and interviews gave the impression that Tyson meant business. But reality was something else.
For someone who is 58, playing someone 21 years younger is always a challenge. Still, the man who was taking on the challenge was Mike Tyson. A boxing legend, a ‘Kid Dynamite’ from Brooklyn. Expectations rose when Tyson slapped Paul in the pre-bout weigh-in. The ‘old’ Mike was back, so was his ‘bad man’ aura.
On the fight day, however, the fizz had evaporated. Barring the first two rounds, Tyson barely landed a solid punch. The once undisputed heavyweight champion was not match for his younger rivals speed and movement. According to news agency AFP, statistics showed Tyson connected with just 18 of 97 punches thrown while Paul threw some 278 punches and landed 78 of them.
The situation was such that Paul managed to even show respect to Tyson by bowing to him mid-match. In the 90s, it would have been an insult to Tyson, now he nodded in acknowledgement. Even he must have realised that age had caught up. More than Jake Paul, he had lost to time.
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