Terence Crawford slammed Mike Tyson for his performance in his defeat to Jake Paul, claiming that the 58-year-old ‘looked like trash’ in the ring.
Tyson went the distance with Paul over eight two-minute rounds but the two-time world heavyweight champion struggled to keep up with his 27-year-old opponent for the majority of the fight.
In two of the eight rounds, Tyson failed to land a single punch on Paul, while on commentary duty for Netflix, Roy Jones Jr constantly pointed out that Iron Mike looked unstable on his feet.
Paul won via unanimous decision, with the three ringside judges scoring the fight 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73.
Tyson has been training since the end of July for the fight after his preparations were halted in May after he suffered a stomach ulcer.
But Crawford, who has held multiple world titles in four different weight classes, has dismissed the plaudits Tyson received for his display against Paul.
In a post on X shortly after the fight, Crawford wrote: ‘I love Mike Tyson, but they giving him too much credit.
‘He looked like trash, to train that long and only throw 97 punches the whole fight is crazy. I’m just glad he didn’t get hurt out there.’
Meanwhile, legendary boxer Andre Ward, who was an analyst for Netflix for the fight, praised Paul for easing off on Tyson when it became clear that the 58-year-old was struggling to keep up with the face.
‘Mike is 58, I don’t know how many people feel like I feel but I appreciate Mike getting himself in shape and to go back and forth with a dude who’s 27. Mike can still take a good shot,’ Ward told KO Artist Sports.
‘Sometimes the people who don’t know boxing, maybe they’re just here for the excitement, they don’t understand, they’re taking every word literally, they expect it to be lived out on fight night, but you forget he’s 58, you can see Mike’s brain was telling him to do stuff but his body wasn’t doing it.
‘When the legs go, the distance between him and Jake Paul was like five miles, he’s trying to close the distance, he did it early, he just can’t keep it up.’
‘Asked if it felt like Paul was carrying Tyson in the ring, Ward replied: ‘I don’t want to say that… it kind of seemed like that at times.
‘And to be honest with you, I appreciate that. I wasn’t going to be feeling that.
‘What’s the worst that’s going to happen [if you don’t knock Tyson out], you get a few boos? But you still honour and pay homage to an all-time great.’
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