NFL legend claims Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson was 'rigged' due to never-before-seen secret contract clause
Fresh claims have been made about Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson being "rigged" days after the record-breaking Netflix fight.
Paul beat Tyson in front of 70,000 fans at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Friday night, claiming a unanimous decision victory to move to 11-1.
The judges scored it 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73 in favour of the Problem Child for the eight-round affair, which drew an estimated 108 million viewers.
Tyson started out strongly and looked like he was about to roll back the years but having only recently recovered from a health scare where he nearly died, he soon faded and landed just 18 punches in total.
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Not for the first time, fans claimed that the fight was set up for Paul to win - with many feeling as though Tyson refrained from jumping on the 27-year-old after catching him with a left hook.
Sara Bailey, the women’s WBA world lightweight champion and a member of undercard fighter Lucas Bahdi's team, added fuel to the fire when she said Paul-Tyson was “fixed” in an interview with ES News.
Paul himself admitted he decided against knocking Tyson out as he "didn't wanna hurt someone that didn't need to be hurt".
And former Dallas Cowboys star Michael Irvin weighed in with his take, suggesting that Tyson was not allowed to throw an uppercut as per terms of his contract.
"I was looking for that patent "one in the body, one on the uppercut,"' the former NFL star said on The Herd.
"When he hits that it's boom boom, boom. I want to see that. But we didn't get that, not a one.
"And I saw someone else say that it was in the contract - 'no uppercuts'. They had it in the contract. Come on guys, why wouldn't Mike Tyson throw an uppercut?
All of that is Mike Tyson is not Mike Tyson anyway, and now you taking away Mike Tyson's best gift, which was that uppercut. Man, that's a big lie to me. That's like making me play a game without running a slant route in the deep end or the deep out."
Co-host Colin Cowherd also subscribed to the theory, even speculating that Paul decided not to humiliate 'Iron Mike'.
"It was the killer shot and he didn't throw one," Cowherd added.
"Jake Paul by about the fifth round had a chance [to knock Tyson out] and I wonder if, after what you said, did Jake Paul say, 'Listen, I signed a contract. He can't throw an uppercut, so I'm not gonna humiliate him'."
Paul has had to deal with conspiracy theories on all of his fights, including knockouts against Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren. But appearing on his brother Logan's 'IMPAULSIVE' podcast, he hit back at suggestions Tyson pulled his punches against him.
"You don’t realize my power, and my speed, and my agility, and my footwork to get out of the way of those punches," Paul commented.
"All of a sudden he’s throwing at air. He can’t land those punches on me."
Topics: Jake Paul, Mike Tyson
Josh Lawless