“I was trying to hurt him a little bit,” said Paul, who improved to 11-1. “I was afraid he would hurt me. I was trying to hurt him. I did my best. I did my best.

Tyson would sit and wait for Paul to come to him, with a few exceptions. It was quite the contrast to the co-main event, another fight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in which Taylor retained her undisputed welterweight championship with another contested decision.

Paul said he slowed down starting in the third round because he thought Tyson was tired and vulnerable.

“I wanted to put on a show for the fans, but I didn’t want to hurt anyone who didn’t need to be hurt,” Paul said.

It was the first sanctioned fight since 2005 for Tyson, who fought Roy Jones Jr. in a much more entertaining exhibition in 2020. Paul started fighting just over four years ago.

“I didn’t prove anything to anyone, only to myself,” Tyson said when asked what finishing the fight meant. “I’m not one of those guys who wants to please the world. I’m just happy with what I can do.

The fight was originally scheduled for July 20 but had to be postponed when Tyson was treated for a stomach ulcer after falling ill on a flight. His record is now 50-7 with 44 KOs.

Mike Tyson slaps Jake Paul during a weigh-in before their heavyweight fight on Thursday. Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Tyson slapped Paul in the face during the weigh-in the night before the fight, and they traded insults at several hype events, before and after the postponement.

The hatred was long gone by the end of this disappointing fight.

“I have so much respect for him,” Paul said. “This violence, this war thing between us, like after he slapped me, I wanted to be aggressive and take him down and knock him out and all that. That kind of disappeared as the tours went on.

The fight set a Texas record for combat sports with a gross of nearly $18 million, according to organizers, and Netflix had issues with the stream of the platform’s first live combat sports event. streaming. Netflix has over 280 million subscribers worldwide.

“It’s the biggest event,” Paul said. “More than 120 million people on Netflix. We crashed the site.

Celebrities included Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal and former NFL star Rob Gronkowski, as well as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, two enemies from Tyson’s days, welcomed him into his locker room before the fight.

Tyson bit Holyfield on the ear during a 1997 fight and appeared to have one of his gloves in his mouth several times during the Paul fight. He was asked if he had a problem with his spokesperson.

“I have a habit of biting my gloves,” Tyson said. “I have a biting fixation.”

“I heard about it,” the interviewer replied.

On the undercard, Mario Barrios retained the WBC welterweight title in a draw with Abel Ramos. Barrios was in control early before Ramos dominated the middle rounds. Each suffered a knockdown during the 12-round fight.

It was the 29-year-old Barrios’ first fight since being named WBC welterweight champion when Terence Crawford began moving up from the 147-pound class.

Barrios, who is 29-2-1, won the WBC interim title by unanimous decision over Yordenis Ugás last year. Ramos, 33, is 28-6-3.

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