Back in the 80s if you wanted to box in an arcade game, Nintendo had the best boxing in town with their wire mesh Super-Punch Out. Then when legendary puncher Mike Tyson got in their NES version, the videogame turned almost as legendary.
Apparently, Tyson said he never played much of his own game back in the day. That might seem odd, but he was too busy beating real opponents than to worry about the videogame fictional opponents like Bald Bull and Piston Hurricane.
Speaking of Tyson, in his late 50s now, he’s getting back in the ring one more time.
Mike Tyson last put his boxing gloves on in 2020 for an exhibition fight and now he’s planned another fight against Jake Paul in July to be live streamed on Netflix. I hope Netflix does a better job streaming this event than they did the Love Is Blind live reunion, but maybe they wanted another test run.
Jimmy Fallon asked Tyson to boxed himself in Mike Tyson’s Punch Out on The Tonight Show. No spoiler on the winner, but the fight doesn’t last long and you can watch it below.
As for how Tyson will fare in his match against Jake Paul in July 2024? It’s sounding, at least from rumors, very exhibition-like.
The fight, which will see Tyson come out of retirement for a one-off contest against YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul, will be streamed on Netflix and both men are expected to receive substantial paydays. The fight is scheduled for July 20 at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, where over 80,000 spectators are expected.
Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul boxing rules emerge and called a ‘joke’ | Boxing | Sport | Express.co.uk
The oddsmakers are giving the edge to Jake Paul, presumably based on Tyson’s age, but it probably will go down similarly to the last fight Tyson had with Roy Jones Jr, where there wasn’t Mike’s ferocity in the ring. Then again, if Jake Paul tries to go in and knock Tyson out, things could get wild.
Whatever the outcome of the match, if it even goes down as planned, hope that neither gets hurt. There was a time I eagerly tuned into every Tyson boxing match. Will likely tune in for this match, but not holding high expectations for it being like the epic Tyson bouts in the 80s, pre-prison. That Tyson was an unstoppable force and very entertaining and exciting in the ring.
Researching this story makes me want to dust off and play Punch Out again. The most recent version was released in 2009 for the Wii made by Canadian studio Next Level Games, which Nintendo purchased in 2021.