Former MMA referee John McCarthy is not a fan of Mike Tyson’s return to boxing where he’ll face off against Jake Paul. McCarthy joined MMA Junkie on the “Spinning Back Clique” podcast to discuss his feelings about the upcoming boxing bout.
“I hate it. I can’t stand it. It drives me crazy,” McCarthy said on the Spinning Back Clique.
John McCarthy Speaks Out
The now PFL/Bellator analyst as aforementioned is not a fan of this fight whatsoever. McCarthy alluded to the ridiculousness of the whole idea and thrown out some ideas for comeback stories in other sports.
“I love Mike Tyson. And Mike Tyson was a great fighter, but what do you think is gonna happen if you put Joe Montana on a football field right now? How good do you think it’s gonna look,” McCarthy told MMA Junkie. “There is speed in sports that Mike Tyson has lost – a ton of his speed.”
“I don’t care how good of condition you get in as a 57-year-old, almost 58 when that fight happens. You cannot maintain that conditioning. Anything happens, it goes right out the door, and it takes you forever to kind of get that back. When [Tyson] goes into that ring, he’s gonna get tired. He will get tired much faster than he ever did before based upon his age. Yes, he will have some power, but he doesn’t have the speed to get that power to the target the same way. I look at this and I go, man, sham on everyone for this whole thing,” McCarthy said.
Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul
The fight between Tyson and Paul is scheduled to take place on July 20 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, TX. Netflix is set to stream the super fight and hopes to garner more new viewers to the sport and join the influencer boxing scene. Paul who is now 9-1, most recently knocked out Ryan Bourland in the first round. The former heavyweight champion, Tyson, last returned to the ring in November of 2020 for an exhibition against Roy Jones Jr. Paul holds an incredible age difference of 30 years. Unfortunately, ff the fight goes down, Tyson will be 58 years old when he competes again. For the majority of fight fans across the world this is the reason many are up in arms about the scheduled bout.
“Everyone is seeing Mike as the Mike Tyson that we all fell in love with, the Mike Tyson that was just an animal. [He] would go out there with huge power, and just annihilate people,” McCarthy said. “That Mike Tyson is gone, that Mike Tyson doesn’t exist anymore, and that Mike Tyson is what’s needed to put Jake Paul on his ass. We’re not gonna see that Mike Tyson, so unfortunately you’re gonna Jake Paul win this fight. And I just hope Mike doesn’t get hurt.
A Failed Comeback Attempt
McCarthy also alluded to a time in which a former heavyweight boxing champion returned for a comeback fight and failed. Evander Holyfield returned to fight Vitor Belfort in 2021. Holyfield was outclassed and TKO’d by the fighter who was 15 years younger.
“I love Vitor [Belfort] but he’s not a better boxer than Evander Holyfield, but he could beat an old man that was 50-something years old,” McCarthy said. “I really hope that [Paul vs. Tyson], in the end, doesn’t come about.”
What do you think about this fight? Let us know.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
