Former Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin is known for being an NFL analyst, however, now he is revealing his thoughts on the recent Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match.
Videos by FanBuzz
While appearing on the It Is What It Is podcast, the hall of famer made a shocking accusation about the fight.
That is to say, after 27-year-old Paul defeated 58-year-old Tyson by unanimous decision, Irvin is now saying he believes it was all manipulated.
Bringing in a record-breaking $18 million in ticket sales, the bout was certainly one of the most highly anticipated events of the year.
However, it appears the fight didn't live up to all the hype, and Irvin says he knows why.
According to his claims, he says he heard dialogue of people referring to a contract that entailed certain restrictions for the fighters. That is, apparently Tyson couldn't utilize his famous uppercut.
"That fight was a lie," Irvin said. "Everybody's lying... They had no intentions to really strap it on. If you look through that, I didn't see one patented uppercut by Mike Tyson. What did Mike Tyson win on? Uppercut."
Michael Irvin and Colin Cowherd believe Mike Tyson couldn't uppercut Jake Paul because of contract clause pic.twitter.com/WB6QY4vnz1
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 19, 2024
He continued, "Then I heard some people talking about they couldn't put that in the contract. He couldn't body and then uppercut. Like, how can you put that in a fight contract?... You got all these people out here, and he couldn't body him and do that patented uppercut."
"Mike Tyson is not Mike Tyson anyway, and now you're taking away Mike Tyson's best gift, which is that uppercut," Irvin said. "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. You do what you do best. If they take that away, you ain't that dude anymore, and they took that away."
Irvin had as good of a view as anyone as he was sitting in the second row behind his former boss Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and 45th/47th President Donald Trump.
To point out, Irvin was not the only one who was skeptical, as DJWhooKid also was believed to have some inside information regarding the two fighters' effort levels.
According to #DJWhooKid, #JakePaul and #MikeTyson weren’t allowed to go all out during their boxing match on Netflix due to legal agreements. The revelation sheds light on the behind-the-scenes rules shaping celebrity boxing.
(🎥: @djwhookid) pic.twitter.com/gtT6BMh3uD— The Super Plug (@trapxLA) November 19, 2024
To add even more fuel to the speculation, after the fight was over Paul was asked if he tried his best to knockout the former heavyweight champion of the world.
"I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn't want hurt someone who didn't need to be hurt," Paul said.
‼️ Jake Paul confirms that he decided not to KO Mike Tyson during their fight: "I didn't wanna hurt someone that didn't need to be hurt."
[🎥 @MostVPromotions] pic.twitter.com/Ab4jDbCht7
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) November 16, 2024
Saying, "I didn't wanna hurt someone that didn't need to be hurt" certainly opens up some controversy as it insinuates the fighters didn't fight their hardest.
With this in mind, the fight actually was originally postponed, from the July 20th date, due to Tyson's health problems.
And then after the fight, Tyson actually said he "almost died" in June.
This is one of those situations when you lost but still won. I’m grateful for last night. No regrets to get in ring one last time.
I almost died in June. Had 8 blood transfusions. Lost half my blood and 25lbs in hospital and had to fight to get healthy to fight so I won.
To…
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) November 16, 2024
Ultimately, Tyson, who was paid $20 million, and Paul, who was paid $40 million, may not care about the public perception.
Nevertheless, the fans maybe were the ones left disappointed.
