By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)
The big fight on Netflix was Mike Tyson versus Jake Paul or that was the the fight that got all the intention. Jake Paul’s job was to defeat a former great heavyweight who has not been in the ring in two decades and eligible for senior citizen discount.
J
ake Paul did what Jake Paul was supposed to do, win the bout with jabs and combinations whereas Tyson hardly looked the fearsome fighter he was at his peak and connected on two punches per round. It was easy fight for Paul and sad ending for Tyson but both men got rich in the process. 60 million people tuned in.
In the fight round Paul landed a right that shook Tyson and Tyson landed a left hook that twenty years ago would have sent Paul in the front row, but it did nothing . Paul jab was effective in keeping Tyson off. I could remember a time when no jab would keep Tyson off in his prime. He would find a way around it and knock you out. But that was the young twenty something Tyson. Tonight, father time reminded Tyson that indeed, he was an old fighter.
Katie Taylor may have left the ring with the undisputed world junior welterweight championship, but Amanda Serrano must be asking herself what do you need to do to gain a decision? She landed over 100 more punches, she nearly landed five times as many jabs and landed more power shots. This is a disputed fight and there should be a third one since the first time was controversial and as far as I am concerned, she was the one that should have left the ring with the belts after this bout. I had it 107-102 for Serrano.
The fight was brutal as early in the bout, Serrano landed a left hand that rock Taylor back into the ropes. In the fourth round, Serrano followed a left with a right that looked to shake Taylor, as her speed and power caused Taylor trouble.
Serrano got a severe cut due to clash of heads but as the fourth round ended, she landed a nice left hook on the right side of Taylor face. Taylor caused trouble for Serrano in the sixth as blood stream down Serrano face but in the seventh, it was a furious round as both fighters landed a total of 89 punches with Serrano connecting on 54 of them. This was an incredible round and in the eighth round Taylor lost a point as for the use of her head.
In the final round, Serrano landed 73 punches and Taylor 39, which combined was more punches than Paul and Tyson landed their entire fight.
As for the judges, they robbed Serrano as she landed more punches in nine of the ten rounds and there were two that the differences were extensive like the seventh and tenth round. Taylor lost a point in the eighth and you could easily viewed that round 10-8. Serrano, despite the cut, managed to land more punches and look to be a more effective fighter but alas, fights are not won by the view of boxing writers or fans but by the three judges. The three judges awarded the fight to Taylor 95-94 and while I didn’t find six rounds that Taylor won, I will say this was a great fight and could be a candidate for fight of the year as both fighters gave a good performance. There were over 1200 punches thrown and considering this was only a ten-round fight with two-minute rounds, that is impressive.
There should be a third fight.
