November 14, 2024 • 34 mins
Colin is joined by legendary broadcaster Jim Gray to preview the upcoming fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul on Netflix!
2:30 - What to make of Tyson’s return?
6:15 - Will it be a real fight?
9:00 - Could Paul hurt Tyson?
12:00 - Has Paul added to or detracted from boxing?
13:00 - Where does Tyson rank compared to Paul’s prior opponents
15:00 - Are big sports “events” the future for Netflix?
18:30 - How will Tyson look at his age?
21:15 - Who do you like in this fight?
24:00 - Why boxing feels different from other sports
30:00 - Colin’s predictions for the fight
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
All right, There's never been a night quite like this.
On Friday, November fifteenth, Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions bring
you the highly anticipated boxing mega EVENTD of the Year.
Jake al Gaio Paul will go toe to toe in
the ring against Iron Mike Tyson, for a long time,
the baddest man on the planet. When a disruptor challenges
a legend, anything can happen. Also that night, a historic
(00:25):
rematch between the Brave Bomber Katie Taylor and Amanda The
Real Deal Toronto, the last time they met in the ring,
history was made, Women's boxing was catapulted in new hypes. Though,
these are the fights the world's been waiting for. Don't
miss these epic showdowns. It is live from AT and
T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Watch Paul versus Tyson Friday
November fifteenth, eight pm Eastern five BM Pacific live on Netflix.
(00:49):
You can also follow the road to the fight by
watching Countdown Paul Versus Tyson, a three part documentary series
beginning November twelfth, only on Netflix. I am going to
interview Jim Gray for about twenty to thirty minutes coming
up on Mike Tyson, his career and the fight with
(01:12):
Jake Paul, and after that, I'm going to have kind
of my preview, my guess on what happens. I've watched
these two fight a lot, and we'll talk about that.
But first, Jim Gray, well, he's the longtime host of
Let's Go with Bill Belichick, Peter King, and Max Crosby.
Multiple Emmy Award winning broadcaster, Jim Gray, and I thought
(01:37):
I would start with this. You know, I was very
lucky out of college. I got a job in Las Vegas.
You and I may have touched on this before. I
covered Mike Tyson, like right at the semi beginning of
his career, not in the cat skills, but his first
foray into Las Vegas, and he was fascinating. He was
pivoting from custom motto to Don King John Horn, if
(01:58):
I recall, was in his corner. It was a tumultuous,
fascinating time. And I would go to his workouts at
the top ranked gym, which is not that far from
my work, which is the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas.
And again at this point, Tyson was an enigma, fascinating,
he was all things boxing. You just it was like
(02:19):
nothing we'd seen. It was a hurricane. You followed him
longer than I have. So what am I to make
of this fight and his return?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Well, you know, he just had a career unlike anything else,
really almost anything else in sports. When when you consider,
you know, the youngest heavyweight champion, and you came in
right with Rory Holloway and John Horne and I guess
and Don King, and that was after custom Otto and
Jimmy Jacobs and Bill Caton and those guys who would
(02:51):
you know, helped raise him in the boxing game. And
you know, if you just look at this path, there
is no straight line. It has been a roller unlike
anything that we've ever seen. It's all over the place,
you know, from great heights of tremendous greatness to depths
of despair and destruction. And so when you say you
know this guy has not fought, you know, he threw
(03:13):
in the towel in the seventh round, But Kevin McBride
did that fight on showtime, and before that he had
lost to Danny Williams. Couldn't get off the canvas. So
as far as a competitive fight, we're coming up on
nineteen twenty years twenty years, nineteen years ago, since that
took place now, he fought very very well. We did
a fight with him in COVID and I broadcast that fight.
(03:35):
I believe I broadcast that fight with mar Ronalo and
Snoop Dogg. This was before Snoop was a commentator everywhere
for sports. You know, he's obviously a very famous rapper
and musician. And we did a fight in the Staples
Center with about twenty people there against Roy Jones Junior.
And Jake Paul was on that card. Jake Paul fought
that night against Nate Robinson, the former slam Dunk champion,
(03:58):
who was a little he could jump out of the building,
you remember him, call it, and he knocked him out
and that was kind of the birth. It was the
first or second fight in his in his boxing career,
a YouTube guy, and he knocked him out bad. And
I didn't know Jake, and I was only supposed to
do the post fight interview for Tyson and for Roy
Jones Jr. And they asked me to go up in
(04:20):
the ring and I just said to him, this man
is hurt, this man needs medical attention. Don't be a jackass,
be gracious, don't be whatever it is. That's made you famous.
And he looked at me and he was really calm,
and he was very gracious, and he was very he
had the proper decor him. Got a text from him
(04:40):
about four or five days later thanking me just for
talking him. You know, he wasn't off a ledge, but
just for being you know, for trying to help him.
But I don't know Jake. And now Mike Tyson, you know,
he is facing a guy when he say, how do
you assess this? He's fifty eight years old, he's in
fantastic shape. I mean, he's just been terrific. Now he
had a bad ulcer that caused cancelation of this fight
(05:03):
and was hospitalized. And so you know, when you're at
this age and you're getting hit in the stomach and
you're trying to fight against a kid who's thirty one
years younger, you know, anything can happen in here. And
the guy's you know, the guy's dedicated his life the
last four or five years to try and be, you know,
a terrific boxer. He's not skilled, he's not of that ilk.
(05:25):
He's not anything that anybody's going to ever say, you know,
uh oh, in terms of professional fighter, but in terms
of a boxer, his skills have improved now. Having said that,
on top of it, Colin and I know this is
long winded. I don't think you want to get hit
by Mike Tyson at any point in your life. I
don't care when. I don't care how old he is.
This guy is menacing and he is in fantastic shape.
(05:49):
And to get hit by him at any point. I've
seen what he's been doing with his sparring partners. Seen
what yeh, and it's menacing? Is he iron? Mike? No,
you want to get hit by that. Ever, I don't
care if you're twenty seven, seventeen or fifty seven. No.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Will this look like Mike and Roy Jones Junior, which
to me was disappointing because it was obvious Mike wasn't
going to go full steam ahead. It was it was
exhibition slash entertainment. Will this be similar or a real fight?
Well sanctioned does a real fight in Texas? They have
a license. So it's two minute rounds, eight rounds, which
(06:28):
is you know the parameters that they.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
All agreed to. You know, I thought for Mike, who
was fifty four, I guess at the time he thought
Roy Jones Junior. I thought he looked sensational. He looked
like a really high quality old fighter. And yeah, and
Roy Jones Junior, I believe, was doing the commentary on
Netflix for this fight, said it was like getting kicked
(06:52):
in the stomach by a mule. Okay, So that guy's
a professional fighter who had a lot of fights, who
won belts in all kinds of divisions and was terrific
going all the way back to when he was robbed
in the Olympics in Soul, Korea. So Roy Jones Junior knows.
So I kind of had the opposite feeling, not to
(07:15):
be disagreeable with you, I kind of thought Mike and
Roy put on a great performance in the middle of
COVID that was interesting. It's not supposed to be what
they were, so yeah, who is what they were? No,
Mike Tyson isn't going to walk into the ring and
just look at the guy and he's gonna get knocked out.
I don't believe that. I think that Jake Paul, if
he's smart, he's probably gonna try and avoid Mike Tyson
(07:37):
for four or five rounds and see if he gets tired. Yeah,
and then see what happens. If he plays nice, it
might be a nice exhibition. If he doesn't play nice,
I think Mike's gonna try and you know, knock him out. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I always I always supported Jake Paul's venture because I
thought it was a redeemable effort. I thought he was
a young, tough kid. You could find him in any
bar in the country, right, But he really put the
work in. He really put the time in. Every time
I watched him, he was better. And again, his learning
curve was pretty severe, but he was better. And so
(08:13):
I thought to myself, you know, he's a big, tough guy.
If a tough guy put in three years of commitment, well,
he's obviously a successful kid.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
He and his brother.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
So I mean, he's obviously you know how's to build
a brand. So he's a businessman. So my take has
been if he was fighting professional fighters, he wouldn't be
a tomato can. He's just because I think he's so committed.
You and I covered everybody from Buster Douglas. We've seen
a lot of these guys who don't train for big fights.
That so much of boxing is taking the sweet science
(08:42):
seriously and being dedicated and running every day. So I
look at Jake Paul and I think I don't know
how gifted an athlete he is, but I think he
can take a punch. I mean, I mean, the only
thing I thought was avoid Mike for the first two rounds.
That would be my strategy if Mike punches himself out anxiety.
He's older. But I mean, I mean, do you think
(09:05):
Jake Paul in the ring? Could it hurt Tyson?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Of course yes. And I don't diminish Jake Paul. I
think that he has put in the work and I
think that he is dedicated to it, and I think
that he's figured out a way that he can make money.
He attracts an audience, and so I'm for it. A
lot of people in boxing have not liked what Jake
Paul has done because they think that he's taken opportunities
away and that he has somehow demean the sport. I
(09:29):
don't agree with that at all. I think that he's
attracted new eyeballs to the sport, that he's gotten fans
who would have never participated, never paid attention, and he's
gotten them to pay attention to him. USA Boxing has
put him on board. Don't know if that's good or
bad or what that means. But they see something in
him that can help the sport, and the sport you
(09:49):
don't want to say it's on life support because it
can't kill itself. They've tried, they've tried, and it always
survives and it always has an audience. And if you
look back over the past wee twenty five years, Colin,
if you look at the highest paid athlete over the
past twenty five years, at the top of the list
in many of those years, you're going to find a boxer,
whether it was Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, or now Canelo
(10:12):
Algorisk making more than all these guys who play soccer,
more than all these guys who play in the NFL,
in the NBA, and they don't have a single a
single endorsement. So we're talking about all being earned on
the field of play in the ring in this instance.
So boxing on its big nights still attracts a major audience,
(10:32):
a worldwide, major audience. So I think what Jake Paul
is doing is attracting people who would not be watching
the sport otherwise because it's not mainstream because paperlevision has
taken over, HBO left the game and that was very
destructive for boxing because it took one hundred and fifty
to two hundred million dollars budget out of it. Now, Showtime,
(10:56):
where I was for thirty seven years, left boxing after
thirty seven years and the network closed down of sports,
and so there is another one hundred and fifty million.
When you take three hundred million dollars out of a
sport that's in the United States, it's impossible. It's impossible
for that to be replaced. And ESPN doesn't do it.
With Top Rank they've gotten out, Fox has basically gotten out.
(11:19):
Top Rank is still involved, but the fights are minimal
on ESPN and the Zone hasn't caught on in this country,
so there is no outlet anymore. So the sport is
suffering and it's in peril for the twenty twenty eight
Olympics here because the federation is in such disarray. So
right now it's not on the docket. Hopefully that will
(11:39):
get corrected. So what Jake Paul is doing is helping
the sport and people. I don't say people should get
behind it because that's a personal choice, but fans of
boxing should should not be naysayers of Jake Paul.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, I don't think he's taking anything from anybody. He's
adding value and adding cards and fights that didn't exist.
I don't feel like he's taking you know, anybody's fights.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
I see it that way. But a lot of people,
unfortunately in boxing, other promoters and some of the fighters
who can't get cards, who can't get paydays, you know,
maybe they're looking at it with a bit of jealousy
as well. But I admire what Jake Paul has been
able to do look the guys in terms of building
himself in a brand, and I'm not familiar with all
(12:26):
of the antics that he does on When I say admire,
what I say is he has built himself into somebody
who was nothing. He took nothing and made it into something,
and he's getting a whole lot of attention. I don't
know exactly what he does or doesn't do on YouTube
that attracts his attention, because I'm not following him, and
that's not you know, that's not my area of expertise
or knowledge. But whatever he's done is put him in
(12:50):
this point where he's able to go out and make
a ton of money, and so God bless him. I applauded.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Of Jake's many unique opponents, and I've watched I think
almost all of his fights. Where does Mike ranked? We
have to consider let's contextualize it. The age is a factor.
But of the fighters he's fought, where do you put
the Tyson fight?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
That's got to be on the top. None of these
people are Mike Tyson. I don't care. Look at the
guys he's fought. Can you name one? Robins? Yeah? Yeah,
this isn't no. These have been. These have been to
get some experience, to cherry pick opponents, to be able
to build into crescendo to maybe something of of of
(13:38):
this nature.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah, Netflix foray into this is fascinating. So you know
the Amazon's, Amazon's like, we're doing it real, We're going NFL,
We're going NBA Netflix.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And not to interrupt you, but they do PBC on Amazon.
So we've had you know, Canelo twice and Thank Davis
and so forth, Tim Zoo.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Netflix did the NFL quarterback, NFL receiver, and they did
they're doing the NFL. Is this and I don't know
if you have an answer to this, but is this
the future events? I mean, I grew up, listen, I
grew up and I My first job out of college
was Vegas. I went to daredevil events, Jim, I love them.
(14:26):
I love them. I've been to Evil Knieval. I've been
to Robbie Kanievl. I've been.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
I've been.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
No, maybe I haven't been to Evil. I've been to
Robbie Knieval. I've been to.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
A lot.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
You know, it's you know the circd so lay events,
the stuff where it's people flying through the air. I
love that stuff. Do you think this is the beginning
of Netflix going in? We know they do documentaries and
true crime and movies. We know what they do well
is will will their sports department be front and center
and event network?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
In your opinion? Well, they also tried the thing with
the Formula one. They had a golf tournament with Formula
one in Las Vegas last year. So I think they're
all testing the water. You know, they as you mentioned,
they're going to have the Christmas games, football games, and
you know by the way some of these twirling around
things that they're not even events anymore. It's mainstream. Look
(15:17):
at what goes on in the Olympics now break dancing,
look at what Sean White has done for years. None
of this when we were growing up, would have ever
even been considered anything. You look at somebody on the mountain.
And I grew up in Denver, so I was on
a ski mountain. You know, every week from when I
was four years old on you saw somebody doing something
like this and they were a freak of nature. Now
(15:38):
it's what they do. It's mainstream, it's snowboarding, it's all
of these things, skateboarding. So will they get into this.
I think they're in the business of trying to attract eyeballs,
and they have hundreds of millions of subscribers, and this
fight will be watched by a ton of people because
it's not pay per view. If you have a subscription
to Netflix, you're going to get exposed. And who in
(16:00):
their life who's a sports fan, who's a sports fan,
doesn't want to say that they saw Mike Tyson fight.
And for all of this younger generation who didn't, who've
been told by their fathers and their grandfathers about what
a great sport boxing was, and how this guy took
everything by storm, and how he was one of the
most famous people on the planet, how he was the
only guy who attracted an audience after all Lee, even
(16:24):
though Larry Holmes was a great fighter, and there were
a lot of great fighters, and we had Hagler and Hearn's,
but they were in different weight divisions and lower weight divisions.
Here was a heavyweight champion who captivated the world and
then his life, you know, was played out in front
of Barbara Walters and Robin Gibbons and beating up Don
King and going to jail and coming out of jail
(16:44):
and fighting again and biting a guy's here. I mean,
just so much has happened. So Netflix says, you know,
this guy's a captivating character who's rebuilt himself, who has
paid his debt to society, and who is in movies
and he's likable now and he picked himself up and
he's better tomorrow than he was yesterday. And so I
(17:05):
think that's the business that they're in. And if that's
Mike Tyson and that's Jake Paul and that can do it, great,
If that's a roast with Tom Brady, great, If that
is an NFL game, you know, I think they're going
to be involved. And by the way, the rights for this,
for how many people they're going to get to watch,
(17:26):
this is gonna be a heck of a lot more,
a heck of a lot less in terms of what
they have to pay for, a heck of a lot
more eyeballs than some garden variety NBA game on Thursday night.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I have thought that there'll be a George Foreman quality
to Mike Tyson's fight, is that the mobility won't be great,
the movement won't be great. You know, I watched, I
think I watched every George Foreman two point zero fight.
I watched, we all did, and with George, he had
(17:59):
a great chin. Later George, he was smarter than the
guys he fought, he would wear them out, he delivered.
He was really fairly immobile. I think Mike will be
a little more mobile. I always thought Mike his movement
was pretty good when he trained, when he really had
his best trainers, I thought his movement was really really good.
When Mike didn't wasn't in shape, or didn't train as well,
(18:22):
he kind of lost his jab. He was like a
He was like Adam Dunn. A lot of home runs,
a lot of strikeouts. There wasn't a lot of nuance
to it. But I do think Mike, he'll have some
limited mobility, will it look I have a feeling it'll
look a little like George Foreman's later fights.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
You could because of his age. But George was just
a much bigger man, much bigger physique, much taller, much wider,
much everything, much more everything. And Mike's Mike's a smaller,
smaller cage, smaller everything. I think Mike looks pretty good
when when I went to watch him over in Las Vegas, Uh,
he was training over the Raiders facility. I went to
(19:01):
watch him train, and it's impressive for you know, he
was he was also running sprints, so his movement looks
pretty good, and you know it was slowed a little
bit by the hospital visit. But he's come back now
and he looks terrific. We had him on on the
broadcast yesterday on the radio show with Belichick, and he
(19:22):
took off his shirt and it was unbelievable. I mean,
it's it's hard to believe that, you know, a fifty
eight year old guy can look like that, and so,
you know, I don't want to say, you know that
just because he looks good. Bruce Selbyn, you know, it
was an unbelievable specimen, you know, Oh yeah, it was
(19:44):
an un you know, and then they came into the
ring and they got clovered.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
You know. I saw the Bruno Tyson fine, I was third.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Look at that. Remember how he looked. He looked like
he looked like he would beat up the world for
the next thirty years.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
And he did land one great, one great punch to
Mike that I was there and Mike for about a second,
you know, blacked out, standing up, and then Mike acknowledged
later he goes, it felt like I got kicked by
a blank and mule, the late great Nick Charles. I
remember that bite wasn't.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
A great Hall of Fame last summer. That was fantastic.
Oh it is great. He was great. He was a great,
great announcer.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
So it is the largest known age gap for a fight.
But I my take on the fight is go to
Kobe Bryant's last game, or Brett Farr's last game, or
Brady's last game. I know Drew Bledsoe pretty well. If
you gave Drew Bledsoell football right now and said hit
a flag pattern, he could absolutely do it. He wouldn't
(20:46):
want to train, he wouldn't want to get hit. The
legs are shot. But pro athletes Jim They've always got
a moment left. They're just different than us. You could
go get Rory McElroy at seventy five and say eighty,
give me your three wood and he could hit it.
He just wouldn't want the heat for four rounds, right.
(21:07):
I think Mike is gonna have moments that we're gonna go.
I just I like Mike in this fight. I do,
how about you?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
I'm not objective, Okay. I've been with Mike Tyson since
he was sixteen seventeen years old. I've known him. We
had a very professional relationship and did all of his
fights and many, you know, just tremendous interviews. I broke
my back spinal I'm gonna rip his heart out and
feed it to him when to eat his children. Threatened
(21:36):
to kill me one day in an interview postfight Colin,
I'm gonna kill you and I'm gonna kill Don King,
and then thirty seconds later he kissed me on my cheek,
and I'm still trying to figure out what was more disturbing.
So you know, I'm not objective here. I love Mike.
When I got into the Boxing Hall of Fame, he
came and did my induction and so you know, I
(21:58):
want I want to see Mike win. I want to
see Mike do well. I want nothing but the best
for Mike, and so do I think he can win? Yes?
Do I hope he wins? Yes? My real hope is
that he's not hurt and that he's able to perform well,
give the fans what they want, and that everybody walks away,
(22:18):
you know, happy with what they've seen, and that Jake Ball,
you know, feels good about the opportunity that he gave
gave to Mike to make a bunch of money at
a point in his life where he probably didn't think
any of this would be available, and that he's able
to go on with his career and further the sport.
That's my hope. Intellectually, I don't think anybody just walks
(22:41):
into the ring and beats Mike Tyson. Emotionally, I'm nervous.
I'm nervous for him, but.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
My favorite part. So my first job out of college
was Vegas, and you know, most first jobs you're doing
double a baseball or minor league hockey. I think that
was Bob Costas's first job. My first job was doing
a one inning of play by play in Las Vegas
for the Potterre's Triple A affiliate, and then I got
a job. Frank Belmont hired me to do some boxing
(23:08):
stuff HBO International Feed, and I did some local sportscasting,
and so I was the luckiest guy in the world.
I'm twenty four years old, I'm in Vegas and it
was the fastest growing city. And you know, I don't gamble.
I'm a small town, rural kid. And I followed Tyson
and I saw a couple of fights. Hagler, Hearns Live.
(23:30):
The greatest fight I've ever been to I saw. I
just I just feel like it was a different life.
But I will say this, Mike Tyson fights in his prime.
It's the only sporting event I've gone to that makes
me nervous. Interesting it super Bowls don't, Final Fours don't.
(23:51):
There was something about the energy of it that if
you've never been to a big fight, and this will
be a big fight, there is of all the stuff
you've covered, I always felt boxing felt different.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
There's nothing like it. You're exactly right on a fight
of big magnitude, you know, Ali Spinks, Hagler, Hearns, Mayweather,
Pakia Go. I'll take it anywhere you want, wherever you want,
in any era, when those folks are walking into the
ring and it's the five or seven minutes before and
(24:26):
then the introductions are made by Jimmy Lennon Junior, or
by Michael Buffer, or by you know, I can the
olden days, you know, Jimmy's father and son. You know,
there is nothing like it anywhere. The only thing that
remotely compares to me, and I've been lucky enough to
be at fourteen of them, is the opening ceremony of
(24:48):
the Olympics, when the torch is lit. That's the only
feeling of anticipation that compares to a big prize fight.
And big prize fights happened a lot more than every
four years, so once twice a year you get that feeling.
And there's even like we had it for Deontay Wilder
and and Tyson Fury in their matches. Oh I went
(25:11):
to you know, when he came in in that carriage
and they're playing whatever the song was, it was pretty
you know, there's nothing like this feeling and the anticipation
and everybody's standing up and they got their phones now
in their cheir and then they're singing and it's it's
pretty wild, and I think we're going to have that
at Texas Stadium. I'm sure they'll be whatever fifty thousand
plus people in the stadium, which is a huge crowd.
(25:33):
It's cavernous, So it's going to probably not have the
same feeling of like the MGM Grand Garden or T
Mobile or you know, a smaller a smaller venue maybe
perhaps outside at the we call it the Punch Bowl
the old Stuff Hub Center down in Carson. But I
think that that feeling, Colin, that feeling is going to
(25:54):
be there for this, just because hey, he's Mike Tyson
and it's getting so much publicity there advertising this on
the NFL, on Fox, on NBC during Sunday Night Football,
Monday Night Football, every time you turn on ESPN, you know,
they're running these ads and Netflix, you know, with all
of these millions of subscribers, you know, on a Friday
night in the middle of the fall, I think November fifteenth,
(26:19):
I don't know what college football it's up against, but
I think that this fight is going to attract a
tremendous amount of attention, and we just hope that you
know that it's entertaining. And again, I just don't want
to see Mike get hurt or Jake, I don't I
don't want to see him get hurt either, you know,
I just want to see, let's have some fun with this.
I hope that that's the spirit that it's created in.
(26:40):
I think that Mike is now at a point. He
says that old iron Micha will never be back the
guy who's vicious, mean, who you know, has a screw
loose that he doesn't want to go back there. But
he says, I don't have to be at that point
internally to be able to beat this guy. So be interesting.
(27:01):
What do you think Do you think that there's gonna
be a huge audience for this?
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, I think there's there's always an audience for a
good fight. I think you know, I grew I've told
Dana White this. I grew up a fight fan, and
you know, I watched UFC for years. But I go
to two or three or four UFC cards every summer
when I have time, and there's nothing like it. The energy.
(27:25):
I take friends, I've introduced cousins and they come away
and they're like, man, the energy is like nothing I've
ever seen. I took my wife to Connor McGregor, Mayweather,
I said, you and she loved it, so they're they're there.
I tell I've been so lucky in my life and
now I do more, uh, you know, opinion than actually reporting. Right,
we all know that I've transitioned to a more of
(27:46):
an opinionist years ago. But if you if you told
me I got three events a year, one of them
would be a big fight. I saw six Pacquiao fights,
you know. I whenever I was near Vegas or in
Vegas and he fought. I went to Pakiao fights and
and got great seats and paid for him. Sometimes I
(28:08):
didn't care. I just I like these events all be watching.
I'm fascinated by it.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
He was great to watch. I was lucky to broadcast
a number of his fights on Showtime. Mayweather Pakiao, Mayweather
McGregor was on Showtime, so I know exactly what you're feeling,
you know. Lucky enough. The first first interview I ever
did was with Muhammad Ali by total accident, so you know.
And then he took me under his wing and got
(28:32):
to go and interview him on numerous occasions through the
end of his career. And I got into boxing, and
it's it's been. It's it's been a terrific, terrific professional
existence and I've loved every minute of it. And the
fighters are unlike any other athletes Colin and it's not
even close. They're in there by themselves. They put it
all on the line of themselves. It's all dependent on them. Yes,
(28:56):
they do have good trainers, and they do have good managers,
and they do have good people around them, but at
the end of the day, they're naked by themselves, in
there wearing a pair of shorts with a couple of
gloves on, and it's only up to them. They have
to make their own adjustments on the fly. They have to,
you know, overcome all sorts of obstacles, and you know,
(29:16):
it's always pretty interesting to me, you know, the level
of criticism that a fighter can take for what it
is their performance is in loss and in victory. It's
astonishing to me because there's not a person on the
planet who's doing what we do or who's paying for
(29:37):
a seat. They could last in there for ten seconds,
yet they have all of the answers outside of it.
You know, unlike all of us who've played football, basketball
or baseball growing up, you don't play boxing. You don't
play boxing. You play boxing, you're going to end up
with no teeth in the gutter on the street. You
(29:58):
don't play it, you better perfected, Jim.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
That was great. I appreciate you giving me twenty five
minutes of your time.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
I really do good to talk to you. And we'll
see you roam around the Brentwood Center someday. Maybe take care. Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
So the fight was originally scheduled for July twentieth, and
then he got moved back. Mike had a stomach culture
and said he was thrown up blood, so they moved
it back. I tend to think a pro athlete eight
rounds two minutes, sixteen minutes of actual fighting. I would
take the pro athlete over the hardworking, big tough guy,
(30:37):
YouTuber businessman who's worked his tail off to be I
think a legitimate boxer in Jake Paul. Tyson is fifty eight.
He has not won a fight since two thousand and three.
I think he agreed to two minute rounds. I think
that's an advantage for Tyson. He can come out swinging.
(31:00):
I think if these if it was ten three minute rounds,
I would take Jake Paul but I think the advantage
for Tyson is a shorter fight and shorter rounds. Specifically,
you've watched UFC fights, even the best fighters in their prime,
You can get gas by the end of these rounds, right,
and UFC has longer rounds. Obviously, the three rule changes
(31:23):
for the fight, and you can tell me who you
think they benefit. The boxers will wear fourteen ounce gloves
instead of ten ounce gloves, probably an advantage for Jake Paul,
bigger gloves for Tyson. The rounds are two minutes instead
of three. That's then advantage for Tyson. And the fight
only goes up to eight rounds instead of ten or twelve. Again,
I think that's an advantage for the older fighter. My
(31:44):
money would be on Tyson. If it gets to round
five or six of eight, then check out the betting odds.
I'd probably go Jake Paul. I don't think Mike will
have for very long anyway, a ton of mobility. I
think he'll move pretty well in the first couple rounds.
And again, Tyson at his best, at his prime, had
(32:08):
a jab. Many of Tyson's later fights he was a
cleanup hitter. He was just swinging for the fence and
that could be effective enough. You know, Jake Paul. I
think if I was Jake Paul, I would be more
nervous than if I was Mike Tyson facing Jake Paul.
So I think I think Jake Paul is going to
be pretty reluctant, is going to kind of stay away
(32:29):
for a round or two. Micha will be the aggressor.
What you hope is Mike doesn't punch himself out early
being the aggressor. If I was Jake Paul, you know
my feeling would be I'm the younger athlete. I'm going
to push this thing to five or six rounds and
move around. But I also think Jake Paul is going
to have some anxiety early. Now Jake Paul may look
at it and think, well, that's what Tyson thinks. I'm
going to go right after him. I'm going to go
(32:50):
right after Tyson. Stun him, get him back on his heels,
work him up, piss him off, get Mike to be
a little untethered. That's possible. Longer goes. I think everybody
would take the younger kid. But you know, Jake's only
twenty seven years old, so you're in your athletic Prime
from about twenty six, maybe about twenty five to thirty
one thirty two, So you know, Jake's in tremendous shape.
(33:14):
But and I've always taken his boxing career. He's ten
and one seriously. I watched him fight Tommy Freury, Anderson Silva,
Tyron Woodley, Nate Robinson was the big knockout. His only
loss was a split decision to Tommy Fury, who's not
a great fighter.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
You know he's a fighter.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
So my guess is Tyson. I stylistically, I just want
to see what Mike has in the tank. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
I listen.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
He still can bring a huge left hook, there's no question.
And I've seen some of the video with sparring partners.
I wouldn't want to be Mike's sparring partner. So I'm
going to take Tyson in round four. I can't wait
to watch it. I really can't. Netflix Friday. Check it out.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast,
take a moment, rate and review
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
All right, There's never been a night quite like this.
On Friday, November fifteenth, Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions bring
you the highly anticipated boxing mega EVENTD of the Year.
Jake al Gaio Paul will go toe to toe in
the ring against Iron Mike Tyson, for a long time,
the baddest man on the planet. When a disruptor challenges
a legend, anything can happen. Also that night, a historic
(00:25):
rematch between the Brave Bomber Katie Taylor and Amanda The
Real Deal Toronto, the last time they met in the ring,
history was made, Women's boxing was catapulted in new hypes. Though,
these are the fights the world's been waiting for. Don't
miss these epic showdowns. It is live from AT and
T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Watch Paul versus Tyson Friday
November fifteenth, eight pm Eastern five BM Pacific live on Netflix.
(00:49):
You can also follow the road to the fight by
watching Countdown Paul Versus Tyson, a three part documentary series
beginning November twelfth, only on Netflix. I am going to
interview Jim Gray for about twenty to thirty minutes coming
up on Mike Tyson, his career and the fight with
(01:12):
Jake Paul, and after that, I'm going to have kind
of my preview, my guess on what happens. I've watched
these two fight a lot, and we'll talk about that.
But first, Jim Gray, well, he's the longtime host of
Let's Go with Bill Belichick, Peter King, and Max Crosby.
Multiple Emmy Award winning broadcaster, Jim Gray, and I thought
(01:37):
I would start with this. You know, I was very
lucky out of college. I got a job in Las Vegas.
You and I may have touched on this before. I
covered Mike Tyson, like right at the semi beginning of
his career, not in the cat skills, but his first
foray into Las Vegas, and he was fascinating. He was
pivoting from custom motto to Don King John Horn, if
(01:58):
I recall, was in his corner. It was a tumultuous,
fascinating time. And I would go to his workouts at
the top ranked gym, which is not that far from
my work, which is the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas.
And again at this point, Tyson was an enigma, fascinating,
he was all things boxing. You just it was like
(02:19):
nothing we'd seen. It was a hurricane. You followed him
longer than I have. So what am I to make
of this fight and his return?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Well, you know, he just had a career unlike anything else,
really almost anything else in sports. When when you consider,
you know, the youngest heavyweight champion, and you came in
right with Rory Holloway and John Horne and I guess
and Don King, and that was after custom Otto and
Jimmy Jacobs and Bill Caton and those guys who would
(02:51):
you know, helped raise him in the boxing game. And
you know, if you just look at this path, there
is no straight line. It has been a roller unlike
anything that we've ever seen. It's all over the place,
you know, from great heights of tremendous greatness to depths
of despair and destruction. And so when you say you
know this guy has not fought, you know, he threw
(03:13):
in the towel in the seventh round, But Kevin McBride
did that fight on showtime, and before that he had
lost to Danny Williams. Couldn't get off the canvas. So
as far as a competitive fight, we're coming up on
nineteen twenty years twenty years, nineteen years ago, since that
took place now, he fought very very well. We did
a fight with him in COVID and I broadcast that fight.
(03:35):
I believe I broadcast that fight with mar Ronalo and
Snoop Dogg. This was before Snoop was a commentator everywhere
for sports. You know, he's obviously a very famous rapper
and musician. And we did a fight in the Staples
Center with about twenty people there against Roy Jones Junior.
And Jake Paul was on that card. Jake Paul fought
that night against Nate Robinson, the former slam Dunk champion,
(03:58):
who was a little he could jump out of the building,
you remember him, call it, and he knocked him out
and that was kind of the birth. It was the
first or second fight in his in his boxing career,
a YouTube guy, and he knocked him out bad. And
I didn't know Jake, and I was only supposed to
do the post fight interview for Tyson and for Roy
Jones Jr. And they asked me to go up in
(04:20):
the ring and I just said to him, this man
is hurt, this man needs medical attention. Don't be a jackass,
be gracious, don't be whatever it is. That's made you famous.
And he looked at me and he was really calm,
and he was very gracious, and he was very he
had the proper decor him. Got a text from him
(04:40):
about four or five days later thanking me just for
talking him. You know, he wasn't off a ledge, but
just for being you know, for trying to help him.
But I don't know Jake. And now Mike Tyson, you know,
he is facing a guy when he say, how do
you assess this? He's fifty eight years old, he's in
fantastic shape. I mean, he's just been terrific. Now he
had a bad ulcer that caused cancelation of this fight
(05:03):
and was hospitalized. And so you know, when you're at
this age and you're getting hit in the stomach and
you're trying to fight against a kid who's thirty one
years younger, you know, anything can happen in here. And
the guy's you know, the guy's dedicated his life the
last four or five years to try and be, you know,
a terrific boxer. He's not skilled, he's not of that ilk.
(05:25):
He's not anything that anybody's going to ever say, you know,
uh oh, in terms of professional fighter, but in terms
of a boxer, his skills have improved now. Having said that,
on top of it, Colin and I know this is
long winded. I don't think you want to get hit
by Mike Tyson at any point in your life. I
don't care when. I don't care how old he is.
This guy is menacing and he is in fantastic shape.
(05:49):
And to get hit by him at any point. I've
seen what he's been doing with his sparring partners. Seen
what yeh, and it's menacing? Is he iron? Mike? No,
you want to get hit by that. Ever, I don't
care if you're twenty seven, seventeen or fifty seven. No.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Will this look like Mike and Roy Jones Junior, which
to me was disappointing because it was obvious Mike wasn't
going to go full steam ahead. It was it was
exhibition slash entertainment. Will this be similar or a real fight?
Well sanctioned does a real fight in Texas? They have
a license. So it's two minute rounds, eight rounds, which
(06:28):
is you know the parameters that they.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
All agreed to. You know, I thought for Mike, who
was fifty four, I guess at the time he thought
Roy Jones Junior. I thought he looked sensational. He looked
like a really high quality old fighter. And yeah, and
Roy Jones Junior, I believe, was doing the commentary on
Netflix for this fight, said it was like getting kicked
(06:52):
in the stomach by a mule. Okay, So that guy's
a professional fighter who had a lot of fights, who
won belts in all kinds of divisions and was terrific
going all the way back to when he was robbed
in the Olympics in Soul, Korea. So Roy Jones Junior knows.
So I kind of had the opposite feeling, not to
(07:15):
be disagreeable with you, I kind of thought Mike and
Roy put on a great performance in the middle of
COVID that was interesting. It's not supposed to be what
they were, so yeah, who is what they were? No,
Mike Tyson isn't going to walk into the ring and
just look at the guy and he's gonna get knocked out.
I don't believe that. I think that Jake Paul, if
he's smart, he's probably gonna try and avoid Mike Tyson
(07:37):
for four or five rounds and see if he gets tired. Yeah,
and then see what happens. If he plays nice, it
might be a nice exhibition. If he doesn't play nice,
I think Mike's gonna try and you know, knock him out. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I always I always supported Jake Paul's venture because I
thought it was a redeemable effort. I thought he was
a young, tough kid. You could find him in any
bar in the country, right, But he really put the
work in. He really put the time in. Every time
I watched him, he was better. And again, his learning
curve was pretty severe, but he was better. And so
(08:13):
I thought to myself, you know, he's a big, tough guy.
If a tough guy put in three years of commitment, well,
he's obviously a successful kid.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
He and his brother.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
So I mean, he's obviously you know how's to build
a brand. So he's a businessman. So my take has
been if he was fighting professional fighters, he wouldn't be
a tomato can. He's just because I think he's so committed.
You and I covered everybody from Buster Douglas. We've seen
a lot of these guys who don't train for big fights.
That so much of boxing is taking the sweet science
(08:42):
seriously and being dedicated and running every day. So I
look at Jake Paul and I think I don't know
how gifted an athlete he is, but I think he
can take a punch. I mean, I mean, the only
thing I thought was avoid Mike for the first two rounds.
That would be my strategy if Mike punches himself out anxiety.
He's older. But I mean, I mean, do you think
(09:05):
Jake Paul in the ring? Could it hurt Tyson?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Of course yes. And I don't diminish Jake Paul. I
think that he has put in the work and I
think that he is dedicated to it, and I think
that he's figured out a way that he can make money.
He attracts an audience, and so I'm for it. A
lot of people in boxing have not liked what Jake
Paul has done because they think that he's taken opportunities
away and that he has somehow demean the sport. I
(09:29):
don't agree with that at all. I think that he's
attracted new eyeballs to the sport, that he's gotten fans
who would have never participated, never paid attention, and he's
gotten them to pay attention to him. USA Boxing has
put him on board. Don't know if that's good or
bad or what that means. But they see something in
him that can help the sport, and the sport you
(09:49):
don't want to say it's on life support because it
can't kill itself. They've tried, they've tried, and it always
survives and it always has an audience. And if you
look back over the past wee twenty five years, Colin,
if you look at the highest paid athlete over the
past twenty five years, at the top of the list
in many of those years, you're going to find a boxer,
whether it was Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, or now Canelo
(10:12):
Algorisk making more than all these guys who play soccer,
more than all these guys who play in the NFL,
in the NBA, and they don't have a single a
single endorsement. So we're talking about all being earned on
the field of play in the ring in this instance.
So boxing on its big nights still attracts a major audience,
(10:32):
a worldwide, major audience. So I think what Jake Paul
is doing is attracting people who would not be watching
the sport otherwise because it's not mainstream because paperlevision has
taken over, HBO left the game and that was very
destructive for boxing because it took one hundred and fifty
to two hundred million dollars budget out of it. Now, Showtime,
(10:56):
where I was for thirty seven years, left boxing after
thirty seven years and the network closed down of sports,
and so there is another one hundred and fifty million.
When you take three hundred million dollars out of a
sport that's in the United States, it's impossible. It's impossible
for that to be replaced. And ESPN doesn't do it.
With Top Rank they've gotten out, Fox has basically gotten out.
(11:19):
Top Rank is still involved, but the fights are minimal
on ESPN and the Zone hasn't caught on in this country,
so there is no outlet anymore. So the sport is
suffering and it's in peril for the twenty twenty eight
Olympics here because the federation is in such disarray. So
right now it's not on the docket. Hopefully that will
(11:39):
get corrected. So what Jake Paul is doing is helping
the sport and people. I don't say people should get
behind it because that's a personal choice, but fans of
boxing should should not be naysayers of Jake Paul.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, I don't think he's taking anything from anybody. He's
adding value and adding cards and fights that didn't exist.
I don't feel like he's taking you know, anybody's fights.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
I see it that way. But a lot of people,
unfortunately in boxing, other promoters and some of the fighters
who can't get cards, who can't get paydays, you know,
maybe they're looking at it with a bit of jealousy
as well. But I admire what Jake Paul has been
able to do look the guys in terms of building
himself in a brand, and I'm not familiar with all
(12:26):
of the antics that he does on When I say admire,
what I say is he has built himself into somebody
who was nothing. He took nothing and made it into something,
and he's getting a whole lot of attention. I don't
know exactly what he does or doesn't do on YouTube
that attracts his attention, because I'm not following him, and
that's not you know, that's not my area of expertise
or knowledge. But whatever he's done is put him in
(12:50):
this point where he's able to go out and make
a ton of money, and so God bless him. I applauded.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Of Jake's many unique opponents, and I've watched I think
almost all of his fights. Where does Mike ranked? We
have to consider let's contextualize it. The age is a factor.
But of the fighters he's fought, where do you put
the Tyson fight?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
That's got to be on the top. None of these
people are Mike Tyson. I don't care. Look at the
guys he's fought. Can you name one? Robins? Yeah? Yeah,
this isn't no. These have been. These have been to
get some experience, to cherry pick opponents, to be able
to build into crescendo to maybe something of of of
(13:38):
this nature.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah, Netflix foray into this is fascinating. So you know
the Amazon's, Amazon's like, we're doing it real, We're going NFL,
We're going NBA Netflix.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And not to interrupt you, but they do PBC on Amazon.
So we've had you know, Canelo twice and Thank Davis
and so forth, Tim Zoo.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Netflix did the NFL quarterback, NFL receiver, and they did
they're doing the NFL. Is this and I don't know
if you have an answer to this, but is this
the future events? I mean, I grew up, listen, I
grew up and I My first job out of college
was Vegas. I went to daredevil events, Jim, I love them.
(14:26):
I love them. I've been to Evil Knieval. I've been
to Robbie Kanievl. I've been.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
I've been.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
No, maybe I haven't been to Evil. I've been to
Robbie Knieval. I've been to.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
A lot.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
You know, it's you know the circd so lay events,
the stuff where it's people flying through the air. I
love that stuff. Do you think this is the beginning
of Netflix going in? We know they do documentaries and
true crime and movies. We know what they do well
is will will their sports department be front and center
and event network?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
In your opinion? Well, they also tried the thing with
the Formula one. They had a golf tournament with Formula
one in Las Vegas last year. So I think they're
all testing the water. You know, they as you mentioned,
they're going to have the Christmas games, football games, and
you know by the way some of these twirling around
things that they're not even events anymore. It's mainstream. Look
(15:17):
at what goes on in the Olympics now break dancing,
look at what Sean White has done for years. None
of this when we were growing up, would have ever
even been considered anything. You look at somebody on the mountain.
And I grew up in Denver, so I was on
a ski mountain. You know, every week from when I
was four years old on you saw somebody doing something
like this and they were a freak of nature. Now
(15:38):
it's what they do. It's mainstream, it's snowboarding, it's all
of these things, skateboarding. So will they get into this.
I think they're in the business of trying to attract eyeballs,
and they have hundreds of millions of subscribers, and this
fight will be watched by a ton of people because
it's not pay per view. If you have a subscription
to Netflix, you're going to get exposed. And who in
(16:00):
their life who's a sports fan, who's a sports fan,
doesn't want to say that they saw Mike Tyson fight.
And for all of this younger generation who didn't, who've
been told by their fathers and their grandfathers about what
a great sport boxing was, and how this guy took
everything by storm, and how he was one of the
most famous people on the planet, how he was the
only guy who attracted an audience after all Lee, even
(16:24):
though Larry Holmes was a great fighter, and there were
a lot of great fighters, and we had Hagler and Hearn's,
but they were in different weight divisions and lower weight divisions.
Here was a heavyweight champion who captivated the world and
then his life, you know, was played out in front
of Barbara Walters and Robin Gibbons and beating up Don
King and going to jail and coming out of jail
(16:44):
and fighting again and biting a guy's here. I mean,
just so much has happened. So Netflix says, you know,
this guy's a captivating character who's rebuilt himself, who has
paid his debt to society, and who is in movies
and he's likable now and he picked himself up and
he's better tomorrow than he was yesterday. And so I
(17:05):
think that's the business that they're in. And if that's
Mike Tyson and that's Jake Paul and that can do it, great,
If that's a roast with Tom Brady, great, If that
is an NFL game, you know, I think they're going
to be involved. And by the way, the rights for this,
for how many people they're going to get to watch,
(17:26):
this is gonna be a heck of a lot more,
a heck of a lot less in terms of what
they have to pay for, a heck of a lot
more eyeballs than some garden variety NBA game on Thursday night.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I have thought that there'll be a George Foreman quality
to Mike Tyson's fight, is that the mobility won't be great,
the movement won't be great. You know, I watched, I
think I watched every George Foreman two point zero fight.
I watched, we all did, and with George, he had
(17:59):
a great chin. Later George, he was smarter than the
guys he fought, he would wear them out, he delivered.
He was really fairly immobile. I think Mike will be
a little more mobile. I always thought Mike his movement
was pretty good when he trained, when he really had
his best trainers, I thought his movement was really really good.
When Mike didn't wasn't in shape, or didn't train as well,
(18:22):
he kind of lost his jab. He was like a
He was like Adam Dunn. A lot of home runs,
a lot of strikeouts. There wasn't a lot of nuance
to it. But I do think Mike, he'll have some
limited mobility, will it look I have a feeling it'll
look a little like George Foreman's later fights.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
You could because of his age. But George was just
a much bigger man, much bigger physique, much taller, much wider,
much everything, much more everything. And Mike's Mike's a smaller,
smaller cage, smaller everything. I think Mike looks pretty good
when when I went to watch him over in Las Vegas, Uh,
he was training over the Raiders facility. I went to
(19:01):
watch him train, and it's impressive for you know, he
was he was also running sprints, so his movement looks
pretty good, and you know it was slowed a little
bit by the hospital visit. But he's come back now
and he looks terrific. We had him on on the
broadcast yesterday on the radio show with Belichick, and he
(19:22):
took off his shirt and it was unbelievable. I mean,
it's it's hard to believe that, you know, a fifty
eight year old guy can look like that, and so,
you know, I don't want to say, you know that
just because he looks good. Bruce Selbyn, you know, it
was an unbelievable specimen, you know, Oh yeah, it was
(19:44):
an un you know, and then they came into the
ring and they got clovered.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
You know. I saw the Bruno Tyson fine, I was third.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Look at that. Remember how he looked. He looked like
he looked like he would beat up the world for
the next thirty years.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
And he did land one great, one great punch to
Mike that I was there and Mike for about a second,
you know, blacked out, standing up, and then Mike acknowledged
later he goes, it felt like I got kicked by
a blank and mule, the late great Nick Charles. I
remember that bite wasn't.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
A great Hall of Fame last summer. That was fantastic.
Oh it is great. He was great. He was a great,
great announcer.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
So it is the largest known age gap for a fight.
But I my take on the fight is go to
Kobe Bryant's last game, or Brett Farr's last game, or
Brady's last game. I know Drew Bledsoe pretty well. If
you gave Drew Bledsoell football right now and said hit
a flag pattern, he could absolutely do it. He wouldn't
(20:46):
want to train, he wouldn't want to get hit. The
legs are shot. But pro athletes Jim They've always got
a moment left. They're just different than us. You could
go get Rory McElroy at seventy five and say eighty,
give me your three wood and he could hit it.
He just wouldn't want the heat for four rounds, right.
(21:07):
I think Mike is gonna have moments that we're gonna go.
I just I like Mike in this fight. I do,
how about you?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
I'm not objective, Okay. I've been with Mike Tyson since
he was sixteen seventeen years old. I've known him. We
had a very professional relationship and did all of his
fights and many, you know, just tremendous interviews. I broke
my back spinal I'm gonna rip his heart out and
feed it to him when to eat his children. Threatened
(21:36):
to kill me one day in an interview postfight Colin,
I'm gonna kill you and I'm gonna kill Don King,
and then thirty seconds later he kissed me on my cheek,
and I'm still trying to figure out what was more disturbing.
So you know, I'm not objective here. I love Mike.
When I got into the Boxing Hall of Fame, he
came and did my induction and so you know, I
(21:58):
want I want to see Mike win. I want to
see Mike do well. I want nothing but the best
for Mike, and so do I think he can win? Yes?
Do I hope he wins? Yes? My real hope is
that he's not hurt and that he's able to perform well,
give the fans what they want, and that everybody walks away,
(22:18):
you know, happy with what they've seen, and that Jake Ball,
you know, feels good about the opportunity that he gave
gave to Mike to make a bunch of money at
a point in his life where he probably didn't think
any of this would be available, and that he's able
to go on with his career and further the sport.
That's my hope. Intellectually, I don't think anybody just walks
(22:41):
into the ring and beats Mike Tyson. Emotionally, I'm nervous.
I'm nervous for him, but.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
My favorite part. So my first job out of college
was Vegas, and you know, most first jobs you're doing
double a baseball or minor league hockey. I think that
was Bob Costas's first job. My first job was doing
a one inning of play by play in Las Vegas
for the Potterre's Triple A affiliate, and then I got
a job. Frank Belmont hired me to do some boxing
(23:08):
stuff HBO International Feed, and I did some local sportscasting,
and so I was the luckiest guy in the world.
I'm twenty four years old, I'm in Vegas and it
was the fastest growing city. And you know, I don't gamble.
I'm a small town, rural kid. And I followed Tyson
and I saw a couple of fights. Hagler, Hearns Live.
(23:30):
The greatest fight I've ever been to I saw. I
just I just feel like it was a different life.
But I will say this, Mike Tyson fights in his prime.
It's the only sporting event I've gone to that makes
me nervous. Interesting it super Bowls don't, Final Fours don't.
(23:51):
There was something about the energy of it that if
you've never been to a big fight, and this will
be a big fight, there is of all the stuff
you've covered, I always felt boxing felt different.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
There's nothing like it. You're exactly right on a fight
of big magnitude, you know, Ali Spinks, Hagler, Hearns, Mayweather,
Pakia Go. I'll take it anywhere you want, wherever you want,
in any era, when those folks are walking into the
ring and it's the five or seven minutes before and
(24:26):
then the introductions are made by Jimmy Lennon Junior, or
by Michael Buffer, or by you know, I can the
olden days, you know, Jimmy's father and son. You know,
there is nothing like it anywhere. The only thing that
remotely compares to me, and I've been lucky enough to
be at fourteen of them, is the opening ceremony of
(24:48):
the Olympics, when the torch is lit. That's the only
feeling of anticipation that compares to a big prize fight.
And big prize fights happened a lot more than every
four years, so once twice a year you get that feeling.
And there's even like we had it for Deontay Wilder
and and Tyson Fury in their matches. Oh I went
(25:11):
to you know, when he came in in that carriage
and they're playing whatever the song was, it was pretty
you know, there's nothing like this feeling and the anticipation
and everybody's standing up and they got their phones now
in their cheir and then they're singing and it's it's
pretty wild, and I think we're going to have that
at Texas Stadium. I'm sure they'll be whatever fifty thousand
plus people in the stadium, which is a huge crowd.
(25:33):
It's cavernous, So it's going to probably not have the
same feeling of like the MGM Grand Garden or T
Mobile or you know, a smaller a smaller venue maybe
perhaps outside at the we call it the Punch Bowl
the old Stuff Hub Center down in Carson. But I
think that that feeling, Colin, that feeling is going to
(25:54):
be there for this, just because hey, he's Mike Tyson
and it's getting so much publicity there advertising this on
the NFL, on Fox, on NBC during Sunday Night Football,
Monday Night Football, every time you turn on ESPN, you know,
they're running these ads and Netflix, you know, with all
of these millions of subscribers, you know, on a Friday
night in the middle of the fall, I think November fifteenth,
(26:19):
I don't know what college football it's up against, but
I think that this fight is going to attract a
tremendous amount of attention, and we just hope that you
know that it's entertaining. And again, I just don't want
to see Mike get hurt or Jake, I don't I
don't want to see him get hurt either, you know,
I just want to see, let's have some fun with this.
I hope that that's the spirit that it's created in.
(26:40):
I think that Mike is now at a point. He
says that old iron Micha will never be back the
guy who's vicious, mean, who you know, has a screw
loose that he doesn't want to go back there. But
he says, I don't have to be at that point
internally to be able to beat this guy. So be interesting.
(27:01):
What do you think Do you think that there's gonna
be a huge audience for this?
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, I think there's there's always an audience for a
good fight. I think you know, I grew I've told
Dana White this. I grew up a fight fan, and
you know, I watched UFC for years. But I go
to two or three or four UFC cards every summer
when I have time, and there's nothing like it. The energy.
(27:25):
I take friends, I've introduced cousins and they come away
and they're like, man, the energy is like nothing I've
ever seen. I took my wife to Connor McGregor, Mayweather,
I said, you and she loved it, so they're they're there.
I tell I've been so lucky in my life and
now I do more, uh, you know, opinion than actually reporting. Right,
we all know that I've transitioned to a more of
(27:46):
an opinionist years ago. But if you if you told
me I got three events a year, one of them
would be a big fight. I saw six Pacquiao fights,
you know. I whenever I was near Vegas or in
Vegas and he fought. I went to Pakiao fights and
and got great seats and paid for him. Sometimes I
(28:08):
didn't care. I just I like these events all be watching.
I'm fascinated by it.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
He was great to watch. I was lucky to broadcast
a number of his fights on Showtime. Mayweather Pakiao, Mayweather
McGregor was on Showtime, so I know exactly what you're feeling,
you know. Lucky enough. The first first interview I ever
did was with Muhammad Ali by total accident, so you know.
And then he took me under his wing and got
(28:32):
to go and interview him on numerous occasions through the
end of his career. And I got into boxing, and
it's it's been. It's it's been a terrific, terrific professional
existence and I've loved every minute of it. And the
fighters are unlike any other athletes Colin and it's not
even close. They're in there by themselves. They put it
all on the line of themselves. It's all dependent on them. Yes,
(28:56):
they do have good trainers, and they do have good managers,
and they do have good people around them, but at
the end of the day, they're naked by themselves, in
there wearing a pair of shorts with a couple of
gloves on, and it's only up to them. They have
to make their own adjustments on the fly. They have to,
you know, overcome all sorts of obstacles, and you know,
(29:16):
it's always pretty interesting to me, you know, the level
of criticism that a fighter can take for what it
is their performance is in loss and in victory. It's
astonishing to me because there's not a person on the
planet who's doing what we do or who's paying for
(29:37):
a seat. They could last in there for ten seconds,
yet they have all of the answers outside of it.
You know, unlike all of us who've played football, basketball
or baseball growing up, you don't play boxing. You don't
play boxing. You play boxing, you're going to end up
with no teeth in the gutter on the street. You
(29:58):
don't play it, you better perfected, Jim.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
That was great. I appreciate you giving me twenty five
minutes of your time.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
I really do good to talk to you. And we'll
see you roam around the Brentwood Center someday. Maybe take care. Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
So the fight was originally scheduled for July twentieth, and
then he got moved back. Mike had a stomach culture
and said he was thrown up blood, so they moved
it back. I tend to think a pro athlete eight
rounds two minutes, sixteen minutes of actual fighting. I would
take the pro athlete over the hardworking, big tough guy,
(30:37):
YouTuber businessman who's worked his tail off to be I
think a legitimate boxer in Jake Paul. Tyson is fifty eight.
He has not won a fight since two thousand and three.
I think he agreed to two minute rounds. I think
that's an advantage for Tyson. He can come out swinging.
(31:00):
I think if these if it was ten three minute rounds,
I would take Jake Paul but I think the advantage
for Tyson is a shorter fight and shorter rounds. Specifically,
you've watched UFC fights, even the best fighters in their prime,
You can get gas by the end of these rounds, right,
and UFC has longer rounds. Obviously, the three rule changes
(31:23):
for the fight, and you can tell me who you
think they benefit. The boxers will wear fourteen ounce gloves
instead of ten ounce gloves, probably an advantage for Jake Paul,
bigger gloves for Tyson. The rounds are two minutes instead
of three. That's then advantage for Tyson. And the fight
only goes up to eight rounds instead of ten or twelve. Again,
I think that's an advantage for the older fighter. My
(31:44):
money would be on Tyson. If it gets to round
five or six of eight, then check out the betting odds.
I'd probably go Jake Paul. I don't think Mike will
have for very long anyway, a ton of mobility. I
think he'll move pretty well in the first couple rounds.
And again, Tyson at his best, at his prime, had
(32:08):
a jab. Many of Tyson's later fights he was a
cleanup hitter. He was just swinging for the fence and
that could be effective enough. You know, Jake Paul. I
think if I was Jake Paul, I would be more
nervous than if I was Mike Tyson facing Jake Paul.
So I think I think Jake Paul is going to
be pretty reluctant, is going to kind of stay away
(32:29):
for a round or two. Micha will be the aggressor.
What you hope is Mike doesn't punch himself out early
being the aggressor. If I was Jake Paul, you know
my feeling would be I'm the younger athlete. I'm going
to push this thing to five or six rounds and
move around. But I also think Jake Paul is going
to have some anxiety early. Now Jake Paul may look
at it and think, well, that's what Tyson thinks. I'm
going to go right after him. I'm going to go
(32:50):
right after Tyson. Stun him, get him back on his heels,
work him up, piss him off, get Mike to be
a little untethered. That's possible. Longer goes. I think everybody
would take the younger kid. But you know, Jake's only
twenty seven years old, so you're in your athletic Prime
from about twenty six, maybe about twenty five to thirty
one thirty two, So you know, Jake's in tremendous shape.
(33:14):
But and I've always taken his boxing career. He's ten
and one seriously. I watched him fight Tommy Freury, Anderson Silva,
Tyron Woodley, Nate Robinson was the big knockout. His only
loss was a split decision to Tommy Fury, who's not
a great fighter.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
You know he's a fighter.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
So my guess is Tyson. I stylistically, I just want
to see what Mike has in the tank. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
I listen.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
He still can bring a huge left hook, there's no question.
And I've seen some of the video with sparring partners.
I wouldn't want to be Mike's sparring partner. So I'm
going to take Tyson in round four. I can't wait
to watch it. I really can't. Netflix Friday. Check it out.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast,
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Host
Colin Cowherd
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