Mike Tyson comes out of professional retirement and takes on Jake Paul in a hard-to-believe top-class heavyweight bout over eight two-minute rounds on Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Tyson vs. Paul is live on Netflix.
This contest is based on both men's professional records and has been a while in the making as Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) had to withdraw with one from the original July date Flare up of an ulcer.
“Iron Mike” hasn’t fought professionally since 2005 and was certainly near the end of his career even then, but at 58 years old he has been preparing to take his fight with “The Problem Child” seriously.
Tyson was, of course, a unified heavyweight champion, but ended his career with three dismal defeats in his last four contests, which were painful early losses to Lennox Lewis, Danny Williams and Kevin McBride.
Since then he has had several exhibition fights, the last in July 2020 when he defeated Roy Jones Jr. in eight rounds.
Paul (10-1, 7 KOs) has chosen his opponents carefully as a professional and since losing a close split decision to Tommy Fury in February 2022, he has won four times, most recently one Interruption of Michael Perry in the sixth roundwho had previously only taken part in one professional competition.
Prediction: The best thing to predict here is to expect the unexpected, and it is difficult to make a prediction with any confidence. The logical decision would be for Tyson to put in a good showing before Paul takes a points win.
Taylor faces Serrano in the rematch
The main support is the real main event here, as Katie Taylor defends her undisputed super lightweight title against Amanda Serrano in a rematch Classic from April 2022.
Taylor (23-1, 6 KOs) secured the undisputed lightweight title by a thin split decision in that encounter, and since then Serrano (47-2-1, 31 KOs) dropped back to featherweight to eliminate the division.
The 36-year-old Puerto Rican last missed out in July when he lost in the second round to Stevie Morgan in Tampa.
Her Irish rival fought just three more times and a move up to super lightweight brought her her first loss, a narrow majority loss to Chantelle Cameron in Dublin last May.
However, the 38-year-old would immediately return the favor by earning her own majority verdict in a rematch last November.
Prediction: This is a very close contest as Taylor has slowed down recently and neither has gotten any younger. At weight, I prefer Taylor to get a close win over the distance, probably by split decision.
Barrios fights against Ramos
In the second of three planned world title fights, Mario Barrios defends his WBC welterweight title against Abel Ramos.
Barrios (29-2, 18 KOs), a former WBA super lightweight champion, dropped the title to Gervonta Davis in 2021 and then lost to Keith Thurman before bouncing back.
He held the interim WBC title with wins over Yordenis Ugas and Fabian Andres Maidana, both of whom are scheduled, and was promoted to full champion in June, where he made his first defense.
Ramos (28-6-2, 22 KOs) hardly deserves this shot, having lost three of his last five fights, and comes into this fight having quietly knocked out Juan Ramon Guzman in the fifth round.
Prediction: Barrios can stay on the scorecards.
Green faces Watpool
The vacant WBO super middleweight title is at stake: Shadasia Green fights against Canadian Melinda Watpool.
Green (14-1, 11 KOs) failed to win her first world title, falling to Franchon Crews-Dezurn for the WBC super middleweight last December, while Watpool (7-0, 2 KOs) gets a first world title shot.
Forecast: Green would secure her first world title on the scorecards.
Remaining undercard
The other decathlon contender is at lightweight, where Lucas Bahdi (17-0, 15 KOs) should outpoint Armando Casamonica (14-0, 3 KOs).
As for the other eight-rounders, Bruce Carrington (13-0, 8 KOs) has his fourth contest of the year, and featherweight can stop Dana Coolwell (13-2, 8 KOs) as the only six-rounder Middleweight debutant Whindersson should see Nunes surpass Neeraj Goyat (18-4-2, 8 KOs).
