2 weeks Ago By Ben Davies
Sylvester Stallone has suggested it was Jake Paul who should thank Mike Tyson after their showdown. Paul cruised to a comfortable points win against 58-year-old heavyweight veteran Tyson in a one-sided but record-breaking affair at the AT&T Stadium in Texas last weekend. Tyson landed just 18 punches across the entire eight-round distance and looked a shell of himself, far from his ferocious and fearsome prime.
His rival even suggested he held back from looking for a stoppage on the night, over fears for the former undisputed champion's health. But 78-year-old Stallone, the high-profile actor who played boxer Rocky Balboa in the first five Rocky films, believes it was Tyson that actually restrained himself. He wrote on Instagram: "Just to set my personal record straight.
Business is business. "Sometimes you have to do hard things and sacrifice for the sake of helping your family. "I have known this unbelievable athlete since he’s 19 years old and what we saw was him giving one of the great Oscar winning performances of all time! "Please, Jake, be grateful, he spared your life! Trust me.
"Keep punching, Mike. There will never be a man like you, a gladiator like you, and a soul like you! "Keep punching champion of champions! I remember once I bumped into him and thought I was hit by [a] runaway bulldozer!" Stallone believes in essence that it was Tyson who held back from unleashing his true power, which he had shown he still possessed in small bursts in training footage. But it appeared clear that he was exhausted and unable to land anything of note, with Paul on the back foot and avoiding any significant damage.
The pair were also carrying injuries with Tyson's knee in heavy strapping as he trudged around the ring. Paul equally revealed he had suffered ankle damage in training, and was unable to move as freely as he would have wished. Nonetheless Tyson escaped without any significant damage, to the delight of many concerned boxing fans.
Many have suggested in a bizarre set of conspiracy theories that the fight was 'rigged', despite it being sanctioned as a full professional by the Texas Commission. But Paul's co-promoter Nakisa Bidarian is furious that these claims continue to rear their head. "The only thing that bothers me is the continued kind of narrative and people saying the fight was rigged," he said.
"I saw something this week where he’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, I saw the contract and Mike couldn’t throw an uppercut’. "How would you see the contract to begin with that Mike Tyson couldn’t throw an uppercut? It’s beyond lunacy and the realm of reality of life. "This was a regulated professional bout by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
"And we were partners with Netflix, the biggest media company in the world, who's a public company. "For anyone to suggest that this was in any way a rigged fight, they're either dumb or they're looking for attention.".
