Mike Tyson will compete in a sanctioned fight for the first time since June 2005 when he faces Jake Paul in a eight-round heavyweight bout Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (Netflix, 8 p.m. ET). The last time Tyson, 58, fought in a official bout, he suffered a sixth-round TKO to Kevin McBride. He didn’t fight again until Nov. 28, 2020, when he met Roy Jones Jr. in a eight-round exhibition.
During his first reign as heavyweight champion, which started Nov. 22, 1986, with a win over Trevor Berbick to capture the WBC title, Tyson was one of the most dominant boxers in recent history. For the next three-plus years, Tyson amassed a record of 10-0 with nine KOs, unified all the title belts and became undisputed champion. He landed 16.3 of 34.5 punches per round (47.2%, nearly 15% higher than the heavyweight division average).
Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) was also very effective with his power punches, landing an incredible 55.1% (12.4 per round) — the division average is 39.7% (9.5 per round).
Paul (10-1, 7 KOs), a YouTuber-turned-prizefighter, started boxing professionally in January 2020, fighting mostly former UFC fighters and fellow YouTubers, scoring KO wins in four of his first five bouts.
Their fight on Friday will be contested with two-minute rounds and with 14-ounce gloves. Heavyweight boxing matches are regularly contested at three-minute rounds with 10-ounce gloves.
To have a better sense of the age difference between Tyson and Paul: When Paul was born in January 1997, Tyson was already a 30-year-old champion with a record of 45-2, 39 KOs.
With that disparity in experience — and age — let’s look at the fight through the numbers.
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31: Age difference, in years, between Tyson (58) and Paul (27).
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47: Tyson’s fights before Paul was born in 1997.
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24: Years since Tyson last fought professionally (a sixth-round loss to Kevin McBride in 2005).
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47.2: Percentage of punches landed by Tyson during his first reign as heavyweight champion (10 fights, from November 1986 to July 1989). It was nearly 15% higher than the heavyweight division average (32.4%).
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55.1: Percentage of power punches landed by Tyson during his first reign as heavyweight champion, 15.4% higher than the heavyweight division average (39.7%).
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20: Tyson’s age when he became the youngest heavyweight champion in history by defeating Trevor Berbick for the WBC title in November 1986 in Las Vegas.
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42-1: Tyson’s betting odds to defeat James “Buster” Douglas in February 1990. Douglas stopped Tyson in Round 10, the biggest upset in boxing history.
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-235: Betting odds by ESPN BET for Paul to win the fight. Tyson is the underdog at +185 (as of Nov. 13).
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22: First-round stoppage victories by Tyson in his career, the third-most among heavyweight champions (Shannon Briggs with 30 and Jack Dempsey with 25).
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12: Punches per round landed by Tyson in his loses to Kevin McBride, Danny Williams and Lennox Lewis, of 31.8 thrown (37.7%).
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20.8: Punches per round landed on Tyson by McBride, Williams and Lewis out of 46.8 (44.4%).
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48.5: Percentage of power punches landed on Tyson in his loses to McBride, Williams and Lewis.
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7: Power punches per round landed by Paul out of 16.2, below the division average of 9.7 per round. His opponents landed 7.1 per round against him.
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3: Paul’s fights against professional boxers (2-1) entering the fight with Tyson.
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1: Loss by Paul in his professional boxing career, a split decision to Tommy Fury in February 2023.
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11.3: Punches landed by Paul out of 35.1 thrown (32.2%), below the cruiserweight division average of 14.
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3: Consecutive KO wins by Paul since December 2023, tied for longest streak in his career.
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70: Paul’s career KO percentage, with four wins in the first round.
Source: espn.com