This past Friday, Jake Paul defeated Mike Tyson in a boxing match that was highly anticipated by students at MFS. However, the results of the fight left students largely disappointed.
108 million viewers tuned in worldwide, which according to Netflix, “makes it the most streamed global sporting event ever.” Jake Paul, an internet sensation turned boxing star, was declared the winner of the fight by unanimous decision following the conclusion of 8 two minute rounds. This win brings Paul’s overall record to 11-1. Previous to last week’s fight Mike Tyson, largely considered one of the greatest boxers of all time, had not participated in a boxing match since 2005. Following his loss, his career record is 50-7, including 44 knockouts.
Joshua Carroll ’25 watched the fight and claimed he was rooting for Mike Tyson. Carroll said “Mike Tyson is a legend and wanted to be able to witness him win a match.” Carroll also stated that following the match, he was “extremely disappointed.”
Aaron Linden ’28 stated that he was “more upset with the quality of the fight than the outcome.” Linden explained, “Since Mike Tyson is almost sixty, he moved really slowly and couldn’t fight as well as he used to. The fight was somewhat boring and I wasn’t that entertained.”
Other students like Bodhi Vance-Harris ’26 disapproved of the concept of the fight in the first place. Vance-Harris argued that “the fight was negative for both [Tyson’s] overall reputation and legacy.” He added that he “was really excited to see Mike Tyson fight since he’s one of the greatest fighters of all time,” and “[didn’t] think this fight did him justice.”
Carroll also believes that the fight “could potentially have been rigged.” He said, “I saw some clips of Tyson training beforehand and [it] looked nothing like he did in the ring that night.”
Jude Sansevero ’25 on the other hand, said he believes the opposite. Sansevero claimed that he has “seen some of the videos saying it was rigged, but [still believes] that Tyson’s loss was still due to his age.” Sansevero added, “Even if it is Mike Tyson, I still didn’t think he could beat someone 30 years younger.”
Ben Morse, an international journalist at CNN agreed with the sentiments about Mike Tyson’s age. In his article, titled “‘Just sad,’ ‘wasn’t a good one’ and ‘trash’: Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul” fight leaves spectators disappointed, he wrote, “Tyson looked every bit his 58 years of age, throwing just 97 punches across the whole fight and landing 18 of them while Paul was athletic enough to outlast his vastly more experienced opponent.”
In addition to criticisms of the actual quality of the fight, students are also displeased with Netflix’s video quality, on which the fight was streamed. Drew Matta ’26 stated that the streaming service “did an absolutely horrible job.” Matta remarked, “My video buffered in and out every two minutes which made the fight unbearable to watch.” He added that “the streaming service couldn’t handle the large amount of viewers and the fight should’ve been left to a cable channel.”
While Liam Richards ’26 stated that he was “upset with the outcome of the fight,” he claimed that he “was not surprised due to Tyson’s age.” Richards believed that the fight was an unjust representation of the boxers as a whole, and stated that “if Mike Tyson was in his prime, he would have kicked the crap out of Jake Paul.”
