No one took responsibility for the two-minute rounds and 14-ounce gloves that will be used for the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight when those modified rules were announced Monday.
Now Paul is pinning it on Tyson.
“Yep, all his rules,’’ Paul said on his weekly podcast published Thursday. “I agreed to all his rules.’’
Not true, according to Tyson’s publicist, Joann Mignano, who said the rules proposed to Tyson for the heavyweight bout set for July 20 were two-minute rounds for a scheduled eight rounds.
“However, Mike is happy with the two-minute rounds because it gives Jake less of an opportunity to run around,” Mignano told USA TODAY Sports. She did not say who proposed the rules to Tyson.
The boxing gloves originally set to be used were 16 ounces, according to Mignano, who said Tyson was happy to have them dropped to 14 ounces Mignano added that Tyson would have been happy to use 12-ounce or 10-ounce gloves and “it doesn’t make a difference to him.”
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), which sanctioned the fight as a professional bout, referred questions to Holden Boxing, the promoter of the fight. Bryce Holden, the principal at Holden Boxing, did not respond to requests for comment USA TODAY Sports submitted by voicemail and text message.
The two-minute rounds instead of the traditional three-minute rounds are widely viewed as beneficial to Tyson. He will be 58 at the time of the fight, which likely will test Tyson’s stamina against the 27-year-old Paul.
The 14-ounce gloves rather than standard 10-ounce gloves are generally regarded as a benefit to Paul because the heavier gloves may soften Tyson’s powerful punches. But Paul disagrees.
“I think it’s equal, just because the 14-ounce gloves are better for blocking punches,’’ Paul said. “But if a punch lands, it isn’t supposed to hurt as much because there’s more padding in the glove.”
Clearing up pro bout distinction
When the rules were announced, the public relations teams for Tyson and Paul focused on the fight being sanctioned as a professional bout. Paul continued the theme on his podcast, saying, “It makes it real. It makes it super real. It makes it war.”
But Tela Mange, communications director for the TDLR, said a fight sanctioned as professional by the TDLR is not meant to be more intense than an exhibition.
“There are no rules regarding how hard contestants fight in an exhibition vs. in a pro bout,’’ Mange said by email.
The difference between a sanctioned pro fight and an exhibition is the exhibition does not have official scoring and does not count against the combatants’ record, according to Mange.
George Foreman, the former heavyweight champion, is among those who said they still consider the fight an exhibition because of the modified rules.
In the case of the Tyson-Paul fight, the rules being used for a sanctioned pro bout are highly unusual. Mange said two-minute rounds have been used for a couple of men’s bouts that were professional debuts but otherwise deferred questions around the rules to Holden Boxing.
Jake Paul says Mike Tyson is calling shots
Paul said it was Tyson’s camp that initiated talk of a sanctioned pro fight rather than an exhibition.
“I just want to make it clear that Mike Tyson was the one who wanted it to be a pro fight,’’ Paul said on his podcast. “Mike got into training camp and called up people on my team and were like ‘let’s do a pro fight. Is Jake down?’ Netflix was like, ‘Let’s make it a pro fight. We’re down.’ ”
Then, Paul said, he called his manager and business partner, Nakisa Bidarian, to make sure Tyson knew “there’s no holding back.’’ Even though Texas rules do not require combatants to hold back in exhibitions.
“Whatever happens, happens and this is war now,’’ Paul said of his conversation with Bidarian. “And if Mike’s OK with that, then I’m OK with that.’’
Paul suggested a sanctioned pro fight rather than an exhibition does have meaning for Tyson.
“I think he wants to put me in the dirt and to make a statement to all of boxing that he is and was … the baddest man on the planet and that he could still get in there at this age and put down the young buck.’’
Jake Paul putting on pounds
Paul confirmed reports that he weighs 230 pounds, 30 pounds more than he weighed in at for most of his previous fights.
He’d previously said he planned to bulk up before his heavyweight bout against Tyson, who weighed in at 220 pounds in 2020 for his exhibition fight against Roy Jones Jr.
“I’m just getting to eat as much as possible and it turns out my body carries this weight super well,’’ Paul said. “And I’m only growing. I think I’ll get up to 240 and then cut down so I’m like way faster.’’
He said he thinks the weight will help when his training camp begins.
“If I’m training for this camp at 240 and then I cut down to 220, it’s basically like I had a 20-pound weight vest on for the whole entire camp,’’ he said. “So my muscles are going to be so much stronger and that speed will come through.’’
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Tyson and Jake Paul can’t agree on who proposed fight rules
