Millions of fight fans around the globe are expected to tune into tonight’s bout between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Former UFC champion Georges St-Pierre will be one of them.
We recently sat down with the BET99.com ambassador to get his take on what many view as the biggest boxing match of the year.
"It’s hard to call," he admitted. "If Mike Tyson was in his prime, I would favor Tyson one hundred percent, [but] he's not in his prime anymore. He's close to sixty years old. It's a two-minute round fight. Eight rounds. It changes the game a lot. It's not three-minute rounds. It's two minutes."
St-Pierre values Tyson’s experience but is deeply concerned his last sanctioned bout happened in 2005, when he lost to Kevin McBride. "He's been out for a long, long time," he said. "It changes everything. I mean, Jake is much younger. It's hard to bet against Jake. He's got the momentum. He's young. He's been active."
Although he’s excited for the bout, St-Pierre isn’t expecting an all-out brawl. In fact, he suspects Paul and Tyson may have made a gentlemen’s agreement to go easy on each other during the early rounds.
"I don't want to kill the promotion, but that's what I think," he said. "There's no way Jake is going to look good. Even if you go out there and knock out Mike Tyson, he's going to look bad."
The 31-year gap between the two men has many concerned this is far from a fair fight, but St-Pierre believes there’s a way for Paul to win in the ring AND in the court of public opinion.
"Jake Paul is a very nice guy, and one way that he can look good is if he lasts the whole eight rounds and displays a great showcase of skills in front of Tyson without any knockout on both sides," he explained. "That's, I think, a good way where both guys can look good. And I think that's what is going to happen."
Regardless of the outcome, St-Pierre hopes that it doesn’t end in tragedy. "I just hope with my heart that none of them are going to get hurt, especially Tyson," he said. "He's a legend, and I think nobody wants to see Tyson getting hurt."
Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul airs exclusively on Netflix with the preliminary card slated to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET and the main card scheduled for 8 p.m. ET. Ring walks for Paul and Tyson are expected to begin at 10 p.m.
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