If you're anything like me, you were ecstatic to see Mike Tyson back in the ring fighting after all these years.
Everyone over the age of 40 wanted to see Mike Tyson, at 58 years old, obliterate Jake Paul in an officially sanctioned boxing match.
It was an event the whole world waited for in greedy anticipation and watched on the edge of their seats. It was historic. You could feel the electricity in the air. So many people tuned in that it briefly crashed the popular streaming platform, Netflix.
We were all so excited when that bell rang at the start of round 1. Many of us knew in our hearts that Tyson was going to knock Paul out in the first 30 seconds of the fight.
I mean, how could Mike Tyson, even at 58 years old, lose against this guy? Right?
Our hearts sank when the round was over and we saw Paul still standing and the very sweaty Tyson visibly winded, as if he had used up all of his energy after only 2 minutes.
What many people don't realize about competition fighting (I used to fight in taekwondo competitions and I currently hold a WTF black belt) is that 2 minutes is a lot longer than one may think.
8 rounds is a lot, too.
For a 58-year-old man dealing with a knee injury and recovering from illness, coupled with the pressure and expectation of victory and high performance from the public, 2 minutes is a very long time in a boxing ring.
As we watched Tyson struggle through each round, we hoped for a miracle, but we knew deep down that we all must face the sad reality that 58 years old really is 58 years old.
60 is not the new 30.
There are realistic challenges to aging. (I know, because I'm aging, too.)
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I won't say that a 58-year-old man couldn't beat a 27-year-old in a boxing match. In fact, I think Tyson could have won that fight if he was having a better day and was fighting at his optimal health and fitness level. He would have at least fought much better than he did.
But there are realities to face. We all remember Tyson back in the late 80s and 90s during the last great decades of boxing, before the boxing landscape became fragmented and the sport declined in popularity.
That's the Tyson we wanted to see.
Tyson at 27 would have abundantly destroyed Paul at 27. Paul knows this just as anyone else does.
And we all believed Tyson still had it in him at 58. At least, we hoped.
Naturally, after the anticlimactic round 8 was over and the decision was in Paul's favor, we all scrambled to make sense of it all.
With a feeling of disappointment, betrayal and hopelessness, the first thing I cried out was "That shit was fucking rigged! They set that up. It was a money grab for sure."
I turned to social media to see that I was not alone in my accusations, assumptions and speculations.
There was no way in hell that Mike Tyson just lost to Jake Paul. There is just no way!
The older generations, Gen X, Xennials and the Baby Boomers all wanted Mike Tyson to win. Not necessarily because we have some grand affinity with Tyson himself, but because we believed (consciously or subconsciously) that Tyson was representing us. It was the old school vs the young. Gen X vs Gen Z.
We had to win this fight.
There was more riding on it than any fight in the history of time.
And when Tyson lost the fight, we all lost the fight.
We all lost.
If Tyson had won the fight it would have been a victory for anyone over the age of 40. Our generation would be in the limelight of superiority. We would have collectively aged backward 10 years. 60 would've been the new 30 for sure, because HEY, 58-year-olds are kicking 27-year-olds' asses in the boxing ring!
But sadly, the victory never came. And we all lost that night. We all had to look in the mirror and accept that our time in the spotlight of youth and victory is over. The lights have faded and we now approach the ragged road of antiquity and old age.
And for what it's worth, we blame Tyson for our reality. Our 80's and 90's heroes are all dead or defeated. And it breaks our hearts.
It kills us.
So we scramble in our hubris for excuses and explanations.
It was rigged! It was staged! This whole match was fixed!
I wish that were true. Oh, I dearly wish that were true. (And it's possible that it is, but highly unlikely.)
But in my heart, I know that it's not true.
The reality of the situation is that Iron Mike Tyson, one of the greatest boxers of all time, and certainly the baddest motherfucker that ever walked the planet, is old now and lost fair and square to the young Jake Paul, who is in his prime.
Jake Paul knew what was happening to Mike Tyson and took it easy on him. There was no reason to knock out Tyson. Would there really have been glory in that for Paul?
No.
Not at all.
It was his father's favorite fighter of all time. Deep down, Paul loves and respects Mike Tyson as much as his father does. Tyson is a legend, after all.
The fight wasn't staged or rigged or fixed.
Tyson's struggle was real.
Tyson's sweating was real.
Tyson's nervous glove-biting was real.
The fight was real.
I didn't type this up to rub it in your face that you lost. I lost too. I feel the pain that you feel.
But it is better to face reality than hide for eternity.
If we can't be the generation that wins boxing matches, let us be the generation that is graceful in defeat. Let us be upright and honorable. Let us be victorious in our truth, character and nobility.
Thanks for stopping by! Before you go, check out Is 70 Too Old to Play Pickleball?
