Oscar De La Hoya has shared his thoughts on the controversial heavyweight match-up between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.
It was Tyson’s first appearance as a professional since 2005, as he went toe-to-toe with the Youtube sensation turned fighter. ‘The Problem Child’ was given the nod on all three judges scorecards, defeating the veteran heavyweight comprehensively at the AT&T Stadium in Texas.
It was clear to see from the start of the contest that ‘Iron’ Mike was a shadow of his former self, struggling to match the pace and work rate of Paul who is over 30-years younger than himself. The 27-year-old has had 12 fights as a professional boxer, winning all but one after losing narrowly to Tommy Fury in February 2023.
In the weeks following Paul’s victory, it was speculated that the bout had been ‘scripted’ in some way, which has since been ruled out by both fighters and the events promoters.
In the eyes of De La Hoya, he believes the contest was in fact ‘rigged’, speaking about the event in detail on his Instagram page.
“Everybody is talking about how staged this fight was. I do believe it was scripted and I believe that Tyson was certainly held back. Look, I’m a fighter and I can see it. It goes on their record and it was sanctioned. Jake Paul paid to get the W on his record! For what? For your own personal satisfaction?
I keep telling you, if you want to be a real fighter like you say you want to be, what are you doing? Who’s next? Joe Biden? You have to fight real fighters.”
It was rumoured that ‘Iron’ Mike had considered boxing once again, but the 58-year-old has recently confirmed he will be entering retirement once again.
