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When Mike Tyson steps back into a boxing ring to compete for the first time in nearly four years against Jake Paul, he’ll do so under a unique set of rules.
The heavyweight exhibition bout is scheduled for a maximum of eight, two-minute rounds with 14-ounce gloves.
Why two-minute rounds compared to the usual three-minute rounds in a professional boxing match? Well, Tyson said it was all part of his plan.
“I wanted the shorter rounds because I wanted more action. If we only have two minutes, we’ll fight more,” Tyson said in a recent press conference in the lead-up to the fight.
Some fans believe that Tyson isn’t taking the fight seriously. That he’s just in it for a paycheck. But if that’s the case, Tyson sure isn’t letting it show.
“Once he’s in that ring, he has to fight like his life depends on it, because it will be,” he said of Paul.
Those words, as well as a number of Tyson training clips, have people such as Joe Rogan worried about Paul’s well-being.
“Bro, he’s in savage mode right now. He’s in savage mode. If I was Jake Paul right now, I would be s——- my pants,” Rogan said. “It’s all the experiences that he has had as a conqueror. You have to take those into consideration. When a man has smashed men before, just smashed men, like, when no one can stand in front of him, that is in his mind still. That’s in there. There’s a dark chamber in his mind that he can open up and I think he’s got it open.”
Although others, such as former heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder, are worried for the 57-year-old Tyson.
“I think it’s bad the commission has licensed Mike Tyson because he hasn’t been active in 20 years, so they should not just license him because of who he is, that’s how people get hurt, god forbid he gets hurt,” Wilder said. “People can get hit in the wrong place and at the wrong time. There’s lots of examples where guys have been hit into a coma. It’s easy to do.”
One way or another, we’re going to find out on July 20.