You want to know what John McCarthy thinks of Mike Tyson boxing Jake Paul? Here you go.
“I hate it. I can’t stand it,” McCarthy said on MMA Junkie’s “Spinning Back Clique.” “It drives me crazy.”
The fight, which is scheduled for July 20 at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium and will live stream on Netflix, is taking sideshow boxing to a new level of ridiculousness in the eyes of many, considering YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul (9-1) is 30 years younger than former heavyweight champ Tyson (50-6), who will be 58 when he steps into the ring.
When he thinks about this fight happening, “Big” John, a former MMA referee who now works as an analyst for Bellator/PFL, can only call it like he sees it.
“I love Mike Tyson. And Mike Tyson was a great fighter, but what do you think is gonna happen if you put Joe Montana on a football field right now? How good do you think it’s gonna look?” McCarthy said. “There is speed in sports that Mike Tyson has lost – a ton of his speed. …
“I don’t care how good of condition you get in as a 57-year-old, almost 58 when that fight happens – you cannot maintain that conditioning. Anything happens, it goes right out the door, and it takes you forever to kind of get it back. When (he goes) into that ring, he’s gonna get tired. He will get tired much faster than he ever did before based upon his age. Yes, he will have some power, but he doesn’t have the speed to get that power to the target in the same way. I look at this and I go, man, shame on everyone for this whole thing.”
To emphasize his stance, McCarthy recalled Evander Holyfield’s 2021 boxing match with former UFC champ Vitor Belfort, which ended with Belfort winning by TKO. McCarthy said he told Holyfield not to fight Belfort, who was 15 years younger than Holyfield in his late 50s.
“I love Vitor, but he’s not a better boxer than Evander Holyfield, but he could beat an old man that was 50-something years old,” McCarthy said. “I really hope that (Paul vs. Tyson), in the end, doesn’t come about.”
Bottom line for McCarthy is that anywho who is looking forward to Tyson fighting again is simply enamored with the dominant force from years long ago.
“Everyone is seeing Mike as the Mike Tyson that we all fell in love with, the Mike Tyson that was just an animal, would go out there with huge power, and just annhilate people,” McCarthy said. “That Mike Tyson is gone, that Mike Tyson doesn’t exist anymore, and that Mike Tyson is what’s needed to put Jake Paul on his ass. We’re not gonna see that Mike Tyson, so unfortunately you’re gonna see Jake Paul win this fight. And I just hope Mike doesn’t get hurt.”
