The planned fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul has caused controversy within boxing and now a leading sports fitness expert has warned ‘Iron Mike’ that it will be will be ‘catastrophic’ from a medical point of view.
Tyson was set to do battle with Paul on July 20 at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, in what was going to be the first ever live boxing event broadcast on Netflix.
A few weeks out from the bout Tyson was forced to pull out of the contest though, after a medical incident on an airplane led to an ulcer flare up, forcing the delay.
Instead, Paul went on to face former UFC fighter turned bare knuckle boxer Mike Perry, winning the fight by stoppage, with the Tyson fight now rescheduled to take place on November 15.
Many fans still have major concerns over the bout, with Tyson now 58-years-old and having not had a professional contest for nearly two decades.
One of those that has expressed concerns is sports fitness expert Dave Hancock, who has worked with football teams such as Chelsea, Leeds United and England. He has told OLBG about the major risks if Tyson was to go ahead with the bout against Paul.
“Looking from the outside, Mike Tyson’s comeback is purely money driven. If someone’s gonna offer you X to do Y, you can make a decision whether to do that or not at any age – so therefore your incentive is cash.
“Therefore you will be prepared to put your body on the line in those circumstances in that sport, because you know the reward is the cash.
“But physically, as a medical person, I think it could be catastrophic. Especially at that age, because reflexes are reduced, his reaction time’s reduced, he’s not as fit as he used to be.
“There might be cardiothoracic issues, pulmonary issues, all sorts of issues that you’ve inherited as you’ve got older, lifestyle issues, you’re not living the same as what you were doing when you were training.”
While Hancock is worried about the potential medical risks, he acknowledges that money will be the deciding factor in the contest.
“But at the end of the day, money talks, going back to the same scenarios about footballers going on end of season trips and pre-season trips, it’s because there are huge amounts of money involved.
“It’s no different for an individual athlete that could get a payday for a one-off bout with a YouTuber.
“If anyone is offered £10 million to do something you’re going to have a really serious think about whether you would do it or not. Probably 99% of the population, if they had the talent, would say yeah, it’s too hard to say no.
“If you’re not in a financial situation that you were in when you were an athlete, for instance Mike Tyson and his bankruptcy in the past, then that’s obviously got to be playing on his mind that he could make some serious cash.
“Then that might lead to something else and something else. Therefore, all of a sudden, he could be doing something in his 50s and be earning more money than he was in his 20s.”
As for now, the Paul vs. Tyson fight is still scheduled to go ahead in November, but some boxing fans will hope it isn’t the case.
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