James ‘Buster’ Douglas knows Mike Tyson‘s strengths and weaknesses well.
The heavyweight from Ohio upset massive odds odds to knock ‘Iron’ Mike out in 1990 and take his undisputed heavyweight crown. It remains one of the biggest shocks in the sport’s history.
34 years later and Tyson plans to return to the ring, this time against YouTuber-turned-fighter Jake Paul in a professional contest over eight two minute rounds with big gloves.
Many have criticised the fight, believing the 58-year-old’s return to be too dangerous to get behind. Douglas doesn’t agree. In fact, he told Gambling Zone the fight doesn’t carry a risk due to the limited ability of Paul. He says watching Tyson in training looks ‘better than most heavyweights today.’
““I don’t think Mike fighting is risky because he’s not fighting a legitimate 26-year-old contender … Mike is going to be f******g relentless … And the clips I saw of him before, he’s looking pretty good. Better than most of the heavyweights out there today … He has no reason to hesitate. Jake needs to go out immediately – and bang – let him know there’s something to look out for.
Otherwise it’s going to be open target season, and Mike’s going to be throwing shots with no worry about what’s coming back. Mike has never been worried about what’s coming back at him, why the f*** would he be worried about Jake Paul. And I can see Mike going after Paul’s body, can he withstand a real body attack? I’m visualising that once Mike gets going, he’s going to overwhelm Paul.”
Douglas went as far as predicting Paul could see his still fledgling boxing campaign end when Tyson wins ‘easily.’
“The two-minute rounds will be to Mike’s advantage for sure, those two minutes will pass quickly. You can get your shots off and then recover … It’s not going to be good for Jake. I don’t think there will be much of a boxing career left for Paul afterwards. I think once Mike gets rid of him, that’s it for his boxing career.
The best scenario for Paul is to just last the entire fight, say he went the distance with Mike Tyson. Keep his hands up and duck those haymakers because they’re going to be coming. Paul will be intimidated by those haymakers, they’re like rockets. Keep moving Paul, don’t stand in front of him, don’t stand on the train tracks. I look at it like an easy win. It will be the easiest win of his career. At 65 years old it may be tough, but at 58 it will be a piece of cake.”
