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Live from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the crowd roared as a legend returned to the ring.
But that introduction was the last time former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson got cheers that loud from the 70,000-plus fans on Friday night. Influencer Jake Paul defeated Tyson by unanimous decision in a bout that saw neither fighter hit the mat.
This was not a normal boxing match: A 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer fighting a 58-year-old former heavyweight champion, not organized by any official boxing federation. The exhibition was produced by Netflix and Jake Paul’s own company, Most Valuable Promotions.
For a lot of USC students who watched, the production didn’t feel right.
“I think the rounds seemed really short, it just didn’t seem too realistic and it was more of an attention grab, which I think a lot of celebrity boxing is nowadays,” said Graham LaBonte, a freshman double majoring in business administration and East Asian studies.
LaBonte said something about the matchup felt off. The shorter rounds weren’t the only change from traditional boxing rules: The gloves weighed 14 ounces instead of the usual four ounces, and there were only eight rounds in the fight, instead of the typical 10 or 12.
Kristi Skane, a sophomore astronomy major, also saw the fight.
“I also think that it was rigged,” Shane said. “I don’t think that either one of them was actually fighting the best that they could, and I think that Jake Paul paid Mike Tyson to lose.”
Even with her suspicions that it was staged, Skane still couldn’t help but cringe as Tyson tried to keep up with a fighter 31 years his junior.
“My idea of Mike Tyson is that he’s a legend, but as I was watching it I just felt bad,” she said.
Tyson’s legacy loomed large over this fight. He was undisputed champion from 1987 to 1990. But he looked sluggish throughout the evening, landing just 18 punches in total.
Edgar Valle, a senior majoring in computer science, questioned why “Iron Mike” was fighting at all.
“I was just thinking to myself, man... why did they actually make this a real fight if they knew Mike Tyson was probably in this state?” Valle said.
Maybe money had something to do with it: The online betting site DraftKings estimates that Tyson was paid $20 million dollars for the fight.