Australia and the World Past and Present

Last weekend tens of millions of people tuned in to watch Mike Tyson jump into the ring again to face Jake Paul.

But first to the event before the event – the battle for the women’s lightweight title – Amanda Serrano versus Katie Taylor.

It was another controversial showdown between the two.

They had fought before and although the two were evenly matched, the judges decided that Taylor was the victor.

This rematch was Serrano’s opportunity to redeem herself and it was an opportunity for Taylor to consolidate her previous victory and put the naysayers to bed.

Although Taylor was once again victorious on the judges scorecards her critics are still jumping up and down.

Taylor threw 529 punches and landed 217 for an accuracy score of 41%.

By comparison Serrano launched 734, connected with 324 for a percentage of 44%.

Serrano constantly pushed forward attempting to command the space. She was ‘busier’ than her opponent.

Taylor was more likely to take a backward step. She was more selective in her punches and her fists were mightily fast.

The match was controversial.

A large gash opened up over one of Serrano’s eyes. It was a horrible wound. It would have been a major distraction and blood flowed down into her eye. The gash opened up relatively early in the bout and so Serrano was forced to contend with it for most of the match.

Despite the commentators suggesting that it was merely an accident with both boxers moving forward to create the hit, many believed that it resulted from an intentional headbutt from Taylor. Taylor was actually given a points deduction during the match for headbutting.

What is clear is that Taylor’s fighting posture is not always upright. She advances with her head forward. It is intentional or not?

The normal three-minute rounds had been reduced to two minutes instead. No doubt this will outrage boxing purists but some were singing the system’s praises for allowing the athletes to produce more action without tiring out.

Taylor may have won the match but it was Serrano who got the crowd going. They loved seeing her fighting spirit. Serrano certainly didn’t back down. She constantly stalked her opponent around the ring. She was a warrior.

Taylor fought intelligently. Whenever she was is a tight spot she would enter into a clinch and reset.

The Main Event – Tyson versus Paul

This fight was intriguing on many levels.

There was the age difference – Paul’s youthful 27 years to Tyson’s 58.

Paul had come to fame as a social media star – a YouTube sensation. Here he was fighting the King of the Ring.

Paul seems to be constantly underestimated.

After he shot to stardom and moved to LA it seems that he got lost living a crazy lifestyle. A bit of an existential crisis followed and he fell into boxing, looking for something a bit more meaningful in his life. Once he put on the gloves he didn’t go back.

Many people say that he is not a ‘genuine’ boxer. But people can be more than one thing in life. People can have different aspects of their lives. They may start out doing one thing and then change to something else.

It is true that Paul fought many non-boxers in earlier matches. It is also true that he hasn’t been doing professional boxing matches for that long.

But in many of the matches that he has entered he has come out the victor.

He has fought mixed martial arts athletes and defeated them.

He does boxing but boxing is not all that he does. In setting up this event with Tyson, he has effectively married boxing with social media marketing. It Paul the Don King of the 2020s?

Tyson’s fighting posture hadn’t changed – gloves low in front of his face. It had served him well in the past. His ducking and weaving were still there. If only one needed to fight with the upper body.

Paul was intelligent enough and experienced enough to know to keep his distance. He came in came in and out.

Tyson would have loved to have been right under Paul but Paul didn’t give him that opportunity and Tyson no longer had the speed to close the distance by himself.

I think the crowd would have preferred to see a ring size of just two square meters. Now that would have been something.

Tyson’s feet became stationary. At times he even started moving backwards.

Getting caught up in the moment, Paul stuck his tongue out at Tyson at one point. Not the best look. Towards the end of the fight Paul bowed to Tyson. Perhaps is was a noble gesture but it was also strange to do it the middle of a round of fighting.

Paul had thrown 278 punches and landed 78 for an accuracy score of 28%.

Tyson threw a low 97 landing only 18 for an accuracy score of 18%.

The fight had originally been set for July but Tyson had had a big health scare in June. An ulcer problem had become more serious and as a result he had needed multiple blood transfusions.

He also reportedly had a problem with his knee during the fight. One of the great things to see from Tyson is that he wouldn’t use these health issues as excuses for losing the fight.

He accepted defeat graciously.

There has been much negative commentary about the fight and I can understand much of that.

But I do think there are positives that we can take from the event.

The silver linings are these:

Paul put together a line up that many people wanted to see. There was a genuine hype for the event.

The event put more eyeballs on boxing. There will be a flow-on effect. Some who watched will have been inspired to take up the sport and a few future champions may have had a fire lit inside their bellies.

The Serrano-Taylor match up was a fine display of boxing. The women upstaged the men in terms of technique, competitiveness and pure grit.

Jake Paul has been prepared to give something other than social media a go. Despite the physical dangers of boxing I imagine that it gives him a better sense of purpose than filmy crazy stunts on YouTube.

Tyson came back to do what he was best at and what he loves.

He inspires others (especially older athletes) to train, prepare and give it a go.

For some only a victory will be success.

But there is something noble in putting everything on the line once more. Especially in boxing, one punch can end a fight in a split second.

You never know the result until you step in that ring and start swinging.