Speaker 1: The volume.
Speaker 2: All right, There's never been a night quite like this.
Speaker 2: On Friday, November fifteenth, Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions bring
Speaker 2: you the highly anticipated boxing mega EVENTD of the Year.
Speaker 2: Jake al Gaio Paul will go toe to toe in
Speaker 2: the ring against Iron Mike Tyson, for a long time,
Speaker 2: the baddest man on the planet. When a disruptor challenges
Speaker 2: a legend, anything can happen. Also that night, a historic
Speaker 2: rematch between the Brave Bomber Katie Taylor and Amanda The
Speaker 2: Real Deal Toronto, the last time they met in the ring,
Speaker 2: history was made, Women's boxing was catapulted in new hypes. Though,
Speaker 2: these are the fights the world's been waiting for. Don't
Speaker 2: miss these epic showdowns. It is live from AT and
Speaker 2: T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Watch Paul versus Tyson Friday
Speaker 2: November fifteenth, eight pm Eastern five BM Pacific live on Netflix.
Speaker 2: You can also follow the road to the fight by
Speaker 2: watching Countdown Paul Versus Tyson, a three part documentary series
Speaker 2: beginning November twelfth, only on Netflix. I am going to
Speaker 2: interview Jim Gray for about twenty to thirty minutes coming
Speaker 2: up on Mike Tyson, his career and the fight with
Speaker 2: Jake Paul, and after that, I'm going to have kind
Speaker 2: of my preview, my guess on what happens. I've watched
Speaker 2: these two fight a lot, and we'll talk about that.
Speaker 2: But first, Jim Gray, well, he's the longtime host of
Speaker 2: Let's Go with Bill Belichick, Peter King, and Max Crosby.
Speaker 2: Multiple Emmy Award winning broadcaster, Jim Gray, and I thought
Speaker 2: I would start with this. You know, I was very
Speaker 2: lucky out of college. I got a job in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: You and I may have touched on this before. I
Speaker 2: covered Mike Tyson, like right at the semi beginning of
Speaker 2: his career, not in the cat skills, but his first
Speaker 2: foray into Las Vegas, and he was fascinating. He was
Speaker 2: pivoting from custom motto to Don King John Horn, if
Speaker 2: I recall, was in his corner. It was a tumultuous,
Speaker 2: fascinating time. And I would go to his workouts at
Speaker 2: the top ranked gym, which is not that far from
Speaker 2: my work, which is the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: And again at this point, Tyson was an enigma, fascinating,
Speaker 2: he was all things boxing. You just it was like
Speaker 2: nothing we'd seen. It was a hurricane. You followed him
Speaker 2: longer than I have. So what am I to make
Speaker 2: of this fight and his return?
Speaker 1: Well, you know, he just had a career unlike anything else,
Speaker 1: really almost anything else in sports. When when you consider,
Speaker 1: you know, the youngest heavyweight champion, and you came in
Speaker 1: right with Rory Holloway and John Horne and I guess
Speaker 1: and Don King, and that was after custom Otto and
Speaker 1: Jimmy Jacobs and Bill Caton and those guys who would
Speaker 1: you know, helped raise him in the boxing game. And
Speaker 1: you know, if you just look at this path, there
Speaker 1: is no straight line. It has been a roller unlike
Speaker 1: anything that we've ever seen. It's all over the place,
Speaker 1: you know, from great heights of tremendous greatness to depths
Speaker 1: of despair and destruction. And so when you say you
Speaker 1: know this guy has not fought, you know, he threw
Speaker 1: in the towel in the seventh round, But Kevin McBride
Speaker 1: did that fight on showtime, and before that he had
Speaker 1: lost to Danny Williams. Couldn't get off the canvas. So
Speaker 1: as far as a competitive fight, we're coming up on
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty years twenty years, nineteen years ago, since that
Speaker 1: took place now, he fought very very well. We did
Speaker 1: a fight with him in COVID and I broadcast that fight.
Speaker 1: I believe I broadcast that fight with mar Ronalo and
Speaker 1: Snoop Dogg. This was before Snoop was a commentator everywhere
Speaker 1: for sports. You know, he's obviously a very famous rapper
Speaker 1: and musician. And we did a fight in the Staples
Speaker 1: Center with about twenty people there against Roy Jones Junior.
Speaker 1: And Jake Paul was on that card. Jake Paul fought
Speaker 1: that night against Nate Robinson, the former slam Dunk champion,
Speaker 1: who was a little he could jump out of the building,
Speaker 1: you remember him, call it, and he knocked him out
Speaker 1: and that was kind of the birth. It was the
Speaker 1: first or second fight in his in his boxing career,
Speaker 1: a YouTube guy, and he knocked him out bad. And
Speaker 1: I didn't know Jake, and I was only supposed to
Speaker 1: do the post fight interview for Tyson and for Roy
Speaker 1: Jones Jr. And they asked me to go up in
Speaker 1: the ring and I just said to him, this man
Speaker 1: is hurt, this man needs medical attention. Don't be a jackass,
Speaker 1: be gracious, don't be whatever it is. That's made you famous.
Speaker 1: And he looked at me and he was really calm,
Speaker 1: and he was very gracious, and he was very he
Speaker 1: had the proper decor him. Got a text from him
Speaker 1: about four or five days later thanking me just for
Speaker 1: talking him. You know, he wasn't off a ledge, but
Speaker 1: just for being you know, for trying to help him.
Speaker 1: But I don't know Jake. And now Mike Tyson, you know,
Speaker 1: he is facing a guy when he say, how do
Speaker 1: you assess this? He's fifty eight years old, he's in
Speaker 1: fantastic shape. I mean, he's just been terrific. Now he
Speaker 1: had a bad ulcer that caused cancelation of this fight
Speaker 1: and was hospitalized. And so you know, when you're at
Speaker 1: this age and you're getting hit in the stomach and
Speaker 1: you're trying to fight against a kid who's thirty one
Speaker 1: years younger, you know, anything can happen in here. And
Speaker 1: the guy's you know, the guy's dedicated his life the
Speaker 1: last four or five years to try and be, you know,
Speaker 1: a terrific boxer. He's not skilled, he's not of that ilk.
Speaker 1: He's not anything that anybody's going to ever say, you know,
Speaker 1: uh oh, in terms of professional fighter, but in terms
Speaker 1: of a boxer, his skills have improved now. Having said that,
Speaker 1: on top of it, Colin and I know this is
Speaker 1: long winded. I don't think you want to get hit
Speaker 1: by Mike Tyson at any point in your life. I
Speaker 1: don't care when. I don't care how old he is.
Speaker 1: This guy is menacing and he is in fantastic shape.
Speaker 1: And to get hit by him at any point. I've
Speaker 1: seen what he's been doing with his sparring partners. Seen
Speaker 1: what yeh, and it's menacing? Is he iron? Mike? No,
Speaker 1: you want to get hit by that. Ever, I don't
Speaker 1: care if you're twenty seven, seventeen or fifty seven. No.
Speaker 2: Will this look like Mike and Roy Jones Junior, which
Speaker 2: to me was disappointing because it was obvious Mike wasn't
Speaker 2: going to go full steam ahead. It was it was
Speaker 2: exhibition slash entertainment. Will this be similar or a real fight?
Speaker 2: Well sanctioned does a real fight in Texas? They have
Speaker 2: a license. So it's two minute rounds, eight rounds, which
Speaker 2: is you know the parameters that they.
Speaker 1: All agreed to. You know, I thought for Mike, who
Speaker 1: was fifty four, I guess at the time he thought
Speaker 1: Roy Jones Junior. I thought he looked sensational. He looked
Speaker 1: like a really high quality old fighter. And yeah, and
Speaker 1: Roy Jones Junior, I believe, was doing the commentary on
Speaker 1: Netflix for this fight, said it was like getting kicked
Speaker 1: in the stomach by a mule. Okay, So that guy's
Speaker 1: a professional fighter who had a lot of fights, who
Speaker 1: won belts in all kinds of divisions and was terrific
Speaker 1: going all the way back to when he was robbed
Speaker 1: in the Olympics in Soul, Korea. So Roy Jones Junior knows.
Speaker 1: So I kind of had the opposite feeling, not to
Speaker 1: be disagreeable with you, I kind of thought Mike and
Speaker 1: Roy put on a great performance in the middle of
Speaker 1: COVID that was interesting. It's not supposed to be what
Speaker 1: they were, so yeah, who is what they were? No,
Speaker 1: Mike Tyson isn't going to walk into the ring and
Speaker 1: just look at the guy and he's gonna get knocked out.
Speaker 1: I don't believe that. I think that Jake Paul, if
Speaker 1: he's smart, he's probably gonna try and avoid Mike Tyson
Speaker 1: for four or five rounds and see if he gets tired. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then see what happens. If he plays nice, it
Speaker 1: might be a nice exhibition. If he doesn't play nice,
Speaker 1: I think Mike's gonna try and you know, knock him out. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I always I always supported Jake Paul's venture because I
Speaker 2: thought it was a redeemable effort. I thought he was
Speaker 2: a young, tough kid. You could find him in any
Speaker 2: bar in the country, right, But he really put the
Speaker 2: work in. He really put the time in. Every time
Speaker 2: I watched him, he was better. And again, his learning
Speaker 2: curve was pretty severe, but he was better. And so
Speaker 2: I thought to myself, you know, he's a big, tough guy.
Speaker 2: If a tough guy put in three years of commitment, well,
Speaker 2: he's obviously a successful kid.
Speaker 1: He and his brother.
Speaker 2: So I mean, he's obviously you know how's to build
Speaker 2: a brand. So he's a businessman. So my take has
Speaker 2: been if he was fighting professional fighters, he wouldn't be
Speaker 2: a tomato can. He's just because I think he's so committed.
Speaker 2: You and I covered everybody from Buster Douglas. We've seen
Speaker 2: a lot of these guys who don't train for big fights.
Speaker 2: That so much of boxing is taking the sweet science
Speaker 2: seriously and being dedicated and running every day. So I
Speaker 2: look at Jake Paul and I think I don't know
Speaker 2: how gifted an athlete he is, but I think he
Speaker 2: can take a punch. I mean, I mean, the only
Speaker 2: thing I thought was avoid Mike for the first two rounds.
Speaker 2: That would be my strategy if Mike punches himself out anxiety.
Speaker 2: He's older. But I mean, I mean, do you think
Speaker 2: Jake Paul in the ring? Could it hurt Tyson?
Speaker 1: Of course yes. And I don't diminish Jake Paul. I
Speaker 1: think that he has put in the work and I
Speaker 1: think that he is dedicated to it, and I think
Speaker 1: that he's figured out a way that he can make money.
Speaker 1: He attracts an audience, and so I'm for it. A
Speaker 1: lot of people in boxing have not liked what Jake
Speaker 1: Paul has done because they think that he's taken opportunities
Speaker 1: away and that he has somehow demean the sport. I
Speaker 1: don't agree with that at all. I think that he's
Speaker 1: attracted new eyeballs to the sport, that he's gotten fans
Speaker 1: who would have never participated, never paid attention, and he's
Speaker 1: gotten them to pay attention to him. USA Boxing has
Speaker 1: put him on board. Don't know if that's good or
Speaker 1: bad or what that means. But they see something in
Speaker 1: him that can help the sport, and the sport you
Speaker 1: don't want to say it's on life support because it
Speaker 1: can't kill itself. They've tried, they've tried, and it always
Speaker 1: survives and it always has an audience. And if you
Speaker 1: look back over the past wee twenty five years, Colin,
Speaker 1: if you look at the highest paid athlete over the
Speaker 1: past twenty five years, at the top of the list
Speaker 1: in many of those years, you're going to find a boxer,
Speaker 1: whether it was Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, or now Canelo
Speaker 1: Algorisk making more than all these guys who play soccer,
Speaker 1: more than all these guys who play in the NFL,
Speaker 1: in the NBA, and they don't have a single a
Speaker 1: single endorsement. So we're talking about all being earned on
Speaker 1: the field of play in the ring in this instance.
Speaker 1: So boxing on its big nights still attracts a major audience,
Speaker 1: a worldwide, major audience. So I think what Jake Paul
Speaker 1: is doing is attracting people who would not be watching
Speaker 1: the sport otherwise because it's not mainstream because paperlevision has
Speaker 1: taken over, HBO left the game and that was very
Speaker 1: destructive for boxing because it took one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: to two hundred million dollars budget out of it. Now, Showtime,
Speaker 1: where I was for thirty seven years, left boxing after
Speaker 1: thirty seven years and the network closed down of sports,
Speaker 1: and so there is another one hundred and fifty million.
Speaker 1: When you take three hundred million dollars out of a
Speaker 1: sport that's in the United States, it's impossible. It's impossible
Speaker 1: for that to be replaced. And ESPN doesn't do it.
Speaker 1: With Top Rank they've gotten out, Fox has basically gotten out.
Speaker 1: Top Rank is still involved, but the fights are minimal
Speaker 1: on ESPN and the Zone hasn't caught on in this country,
Speaker 1: so there is no outlet anymore. So the sport is
Speaker 1: suffering and it's in peril for the twenty twenty eight
Speaker 1: Olympics here because the federation is in such disarray. So
Speaker 1: right now it's not on the docket. Hopefully that will
Speaker 1: get corrected. So what Jake Paul is doing is helping
Speaker 1: the sport and people. I don't say people should get
Speaker 1: behind it because that's a personal choice, but fans of
Speaker 1: boxing should should not be naysayers of Jake Paul.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think he's taking anything from anybody. He's
Speaker 2: adding value and adding cards and fights that didn't exist.
Speaker 2: I don't feel like he's taking you know, anybody's fights.
Speaker 1: I see it that way. But a lot of people,
Speaker 1: unfortunately in boxing, other promoters and some of the fighters
Speaker 1: who can't get cards, who can't get paydays, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe they're looking at it with a bit of jealousy
Speaker 1: as well. But I admire what Jake Paul has been
Speaker 1: able to do look the guys in terms of building
Speaker 1: himself in a brand, and I'm not familiar with all
Speaker 1: of the antics that he does on When I say admire,
Speaker 1: what I say is he has built himself into somebody
Speaker 1: who was nothing. He took nothing and made it into something,
Speaker 1: and he's getting a whole lot of attention. I don't
Speaker 1: know exactly what he does or doesn't do on YouTube
Speaker 1: that attracts his attention, because I'm not following him, and
Speaker 1: that's not you know, that's not my area of expertise
Speaker 1: or knowledge. But whatever he's done is put him in
Speaker 1: this point where he's able to go out and make
Speaker 1: a ton of money, and so God bless him. I applauded.
Speaker 2: Of Jake's many unique opponents, and I've watched I think
Speaker 2: almost all of his fights. Where does Mike ranked? We
Speaker 2: have to consider let's contextualize it. The age is a factor.
Speaker 2: But of the fighters he's fought, where do you put
Speaker 2: the Tyson fight?
Speaker 1: That's got to be on the top. None of these
Speaker 1: people are Mike Tyson. I don't care. Look at the
Speaker 1: guys he's fought. Can you name one? Robins? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: this isn't no. These have been. These have been to
Speaker 1: get some experience, to cherry pick opponents, to be able
Speaker 1: to build into crescendo to maybe something of of of
Speaker 1: this nature.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Netflix foray into this is fascinating. So you know
Speaker 2: the Amazon's, Amazon's like, we're doing it real, We're going NFL,
Speaker 2: We're going NBA Netflix.
Speaker 1: And not to interrupt you, but they do PBC on Amazon.
Speaker 1: So we've had you know, Canelo twice and Thank Davis
Speaker 1: and so forth, Tim Zoo.
Speaker 2: Netflix did the NFL quarterback, NFL receiver, and they did
Speaker 2: they're doing the NFL. Is this and I don't know
Speaker 2: if you have an answer to this, but is this
Speaker 2: the future events? I mean, I grew up, listen, I
Speaker 2: grew up and I My first job out of college
Speaker 2: was Vegas. I went to daredevil events, Jim, I love them.
Speaker 2: I love them. I've been to Evil Knieval. I've been
Speaker 2: to Robbie Kanievl. I've been.
Speaker 1: I've been.
Speaker 2: No, maybe I haven't been to Evil. I've been to
Speaker 2: Robbie Knieval. I've been to.
Speaker 1: A lot.
Speaker 2: You know, it's you know the circd so lay events,
Speaker 2: the stuff where it's people flying through the air. I
Speaker 2: love that stuff. Do you think this is the beginning
Speaker 2: of Netflix going in? We know they do documentaries and
Speaker 2: true crime and movies. We know what they do well
Speaker 2: is will will their sports department be front and center
Speaker 2: and event network?
Speaker 1: In your opinion? Well, they also tried the thing with
Speaker 1: the Formula one. They had a golf tournament with Formula
Speaker 1: one in Las Vegas last year. So I think they're
Speaker 1: all testing the water. You know, they as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: they're going to have the Christmas games, football games, and
Speaker 1: you know by the way some of these twirling around
Speaker 1: things that they're not even events anymore. It's mainstream. Look
Speaker 1: at what goes on in the Olympics now break dancing,
Speaker 1: look at what Sean White has done for years. None
Speaker 1: of this when we were growing up, would have ever
Speaker 1: even been considered anything. You look at somebody on the mountain.
Speaker 1: And I grew up in Denver, so I was on
Speaker 1: a ski mountain. You know, every week from when I
Speaker 1: was four years old on you saw somebody doing something
Speaker 1: like this and they were a freak of nature. Now
Speaker 1: it's what they do. It's mainstream, it's snowboarding, it's all
Speaker 1: of these things, skateboarding. So will they get into this.
Speaker 1: I think they're in the business of trying to attract eyeballs,
Speaker 1: and they have hundreds of millions of subscribers, and this
Speaker 1: fight will be watched by a ton of people because
Speaker 1: it's not pay per view. If you have a subscription
Speaker 1: to Netflix, you're going to get exposed. And who in
Speaker 1: their life who's a sports fan, who's a sports fan,
Speaker 1: doesn't want to say that they saw Mike Tyson fight.
Speaker 1: And for all of this younger generation who didn't, who've
Speaker 1: been told by their fathers and their grandfathers about what
Speaker 1: a great sport boxing was, and how this guy took
Speaker 1: everything by storm, and how he was one of the
Speaker 1: most famous people on the planet, how he was the
Speaker 1: only guy who attracted an audience after all Lee, even
Speaker 1: though Larry Holmes was a great fighter, and there were
Speaker 1: a lot of great fighters, and we had Hagler and Hearn's,
Speaker 1: but they were in different weight divisions and lower weight divisions.
Speaker 1: Here was a heavyweight champion who captivated the world and
Speaker 1: then his life, you know, was played out in front
Speaker 1: of Barbara Walters and Robin Gibbons and beating up Don
Speaker 1: King and going to jail and coming out of jail
Speaker 1: and fighting again and biting a guy's here. I mean,
Speaker 1: just so much has happened. So Netflix says, you know,
Speaker 1: this guy's a captivating character who's rebuilt himself, who has
Speaker 1: paid his debt to society, and who is in movies
Speaker 1: and he's likable now and he picked himself up and
Speaker 1: he's better tomorrow than he was yesterday. And so I
Speaker 1: think that's the business that they're in. And if that's
Speaker 1: Mike Tyson and that's Jake Paul and that can do it, great,
Speaker 1: If that's a roast with Tom Brady, great, If that
Speaker 1: is an NFL game, you know, I think they're going
Speaker 1: to be involved. And by the way, the rights for this,
Speaker 1: for how many people they're going to get to watch,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a heck of a lot more,
Speaker 1: a heck of a lot less in terms of what
Speaker 1: they have to pay for, a heck of a lot
Speaker 1: more eyeballs than some garden variety NBA game on Thursday night.
Speaker 2: I have thought that there'll be a George Foreman quality
Speaker 2: to Mike Tyson's fight, is that the mobility won't be great,
Speaker 2: the movement won't be great. You know, I watched, I
Speaker 2: think I watched every George Foreman two point zero fight.
Speaker 2: I watched, we all did, and with George, he had
Speaker 2: a great chin. Later George, he was smarter than the
Speaker 2: guys he fought, he would wear them out, he delivered.
Speaker 2: He was really fairly immobile. I think Mike will be
Speaker 2: a little more mobile. I always thought Mike his movement
Speaker 2: was pretty good when he trained, when he really had
Speaker 2: his best trainers, I thought his movement was really really good.
Speaker 2: When Mike didn't wasn't in shape, or didn't train as well,
Speaker 2: he kind of lost his jab. He was like a
Speaker 2: He was like Adam Dunn. A lot of home runs,
Speaker 2: a lot of strikeouts. There wasn't a lot of nuance
Speaker 2: to it. But I do think Mike, he'll have some
Speaker 2: limited mobility, will it look I have a feeling it'll
Speaker 2: look a little like George Foreman's later fights.
Speaker 1: You could because of his age. But George was just
Speaker 1: a much bigger man, much bigger physique, much taller, much wider,
Speaker 1: much everything, much more everything. And Mike's Mike's a smaller,
Speaker 1: smaller cage, smaller everything. I think Mike looks pretty good
Speaker 1: when when I went to watch him over in Las Vegas, Uh,
Speaker 1: he was training over the Raiders facility. I went to
Speaker 1: watch him train, and it's impressive for you know, he
Speaker 1: was he was also running sprints, so his movement looks
Speaker 1: pretty good, and you know it was slowed a little
Speaker 1: bit by the hospital visit. But he's come back now
Speaker 1: and he looks terrific. We had him on on the
Speaker 1: broadcast yesterday on the radio show with Belichick, and he
Speaker 1: took off his shirt and it was unbelievable. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's hard to believe that, you know, a fifty
Speaker 1: eight year old guy can look like that, and so,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't want to say, you know that
Speaker 1: just because he looks good. Bruce Selbyn, you know, it
Speaker 1: was an unbelievable specimen, you know, Oh yeah, it was
Speaker 1: an un you know, and then they came into the
Speaker 1: ring and they got clovered.
Speaker 2: You know. I saw the Bruno Tyson fine, I was third.
Speaker 1: Look at that. Remember how he looked. He looked like
Speaker 1: he looked like he would beat up the world for
Speaker 1: the next thirty years.
Speaker 2: And he did land one great, one great punch to
Speaker 2: Mike that I was there and Mike for about a second,
Speaker 2: you know, blacked out, standing up, and then Mike acknowledged
Speaker 2: later he goes, it felt like I got kicked by
Speaker 2: a blank and mule, the late great Nick Charles. I
Speaker 2: remember that bite wasn't.
Speaker 1: A great Hall of Fame last summer. That was fantastic.
Speaker 1: Oh it is great. He was great. He was a great,
Speaker 1: great announcer.
Speaker 2: So it is the largest known age gap for a fight.
Speaker 2: But I my take on the fight is go to
Speaker 2: Kobe Bryant's last game, or Brett Farr's last game, or
Speaker 2: Brady's last game. I know Drew Bledsoe pretty well. If
Speaker 2: you gave Drew Bledsoell football right now and said hit
Speaker 2: a flag pattern, he could absolutely do it. He wouldn't
Speaker 2: want to train, he wouldn't want to get hit. The
Speaker 2: legs are shot. But pro athletes Jim They've always got
Speaker 2: a moment left. They're just different than us. You could
Speaker 2: go get Rory McElroy at seventy five and say eighty,
Speaker 2: give me your three wood and he could hit it.
Speaker 2: He just wouldn't want the heat for four rounds, right.
Speaker 2: I think Mike is gonna have moments that we're gonna go.
Speaker 2: I just I like Mike in this fight. I do,
Speaker 2: how about you?
Speaker 1: I'm not objective, Okay. I've been with Mike Tyson since
Speaker 1: he was sixteen seventeen years old. I've known him. We
Speaker 1: had a very professional relationship and did all of his
Speaker 1: fights and many, you know, just tremendous interviews. I broke
Speaker 1: my back spinal I'm gonna rip his heart out and
Speaker 1: feed it to him when to eat his children. Threatened
Speaker 1: to kill me one day in an interview postfight Colin,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna kill you and I'm gonna kill Don King,
Speaker 1: and then thirty seconds later he kissed me on my cheek,
Speaker 1: and I'm still trying to figure out what was more disturbing.
Speaker 1: So you know, I'm not objective here. I love Mike.
Speaker 1: When I got into the Boxing Hall of Fame, he
Speaker 1: came and did my induction and so you know, I
Speaker 1: want I want to see Mike win. I want to
Speaker 1: see Mike do well. I want nothing but the best
Speaker 1: for Mike, and so do I think he can win? Yes?
Speaker 1: Do I hope he wins? Yes? My real hope is
Speaker 1: that he's not hurt and that he's able to perform well,
Speaker 1: give the fans what they want, and that everybody walks away,
Speaker 1: you know, happy with what they've seen, and that Jake Ball,
Speaker 1: you know, feels good about the opportunity that he gave
Speaker 1: gave to Mike to make a bunch of money at
Speaker 1: a point in his life where he probably didn't think
Speaker 1: any of this would be available, and that he's able
Speaker 1: to go on with his career and further the sport.
Speaker 1: That's my hope. Intellectually, I don't think anybody just walks
Speaker 1: into the ring and beats Mike Tyson. Emotionally, I'm nervous.
Speaker 1: I'm nervous for him, but.
Speaker 2: My favorite part. So my first job out of college
Speaker 2: was Vegas, and you know, most first jobs you're doing
Speaker 2: double a baseball or minor league hockey. I think that
Speaker 2: was Bob Costas's first job. My first job was doing
Speaker 2: a one inning of play by play in Las Vegas
Speaker 2: for the Potterre's Triple A affiliate, and then I got
Speaker 2: a job. Frank Belmont hired me to do some boxing
Speaker 2: stuff HBO International Feed, and I did some local sportscasting,
Speaker 2: and so I was the luckiest guy in the world.
Speaker 2: I'm twenty four years old, I'm in Vegas and it
Speaker 2: was the fastest growing city. And you know, I don't gamble.
Speaker 2: I'm a small town, rural kid. And I followed Tyson
Speaker 2: and I saw a couple of fights. Hagler, Hearns Live.
Speaker 2: The greatest fight I've ever been to I saw. I
Speaker 2: just I just feel like it was a different life.
Speaker 2: But I will say this, Mike Tyson fights in his prime.
Speaker 2: It's the only sporting event I've gone to that makes
Speaker 2: me nervous. Interesting it super Bowls don't, Final Fours don't.
Speaker 2: There was something about the energy of it that if
Speaker 2: you've never been to a big fight, and this will
Speaker 2: be a big fight, there is of all the stuff
Speaker 2: you've covered, I always felt boxing felt different.
Speaker 1: There's nothing like it. You're exactly right on a fight
Speaker 1: of big magnitude, you know, Ali Spinks, Hagler, Hearns, Mayweather,
Speaker 1: Pakia Go. I'll take it anywhere you want, wherever you want,
Speaker 1: in any era, when those folks are walking into the
Speaker 1: ring and it's the five or seven minutes before and
Speaker 1: then the introductions are made by Jimmy Lennon Junior, or
Speaker 1: by Michael Buffer, or by you know, I can the
Speaker 1: olden days, you know, Jimmy's father and son. You know,
Speaker 1: there is nothing like it anywhere. The only thing that
Speaker 1: remotely compares to me, and I've been lucky enough to
Speaker 1: be at fourteen of them, is the opening ceremony of
Speaker 1: the Olympics, when the torch is lit. That's the only
Speaker 1: feeling of anticipation that compares to a big prize fight.
Speaker 1: And big prize fights happened a lot more than every
Speaker 1: four years, so once twice a year you get that feeling.
Speaker 1: And there's even like we had it for Deontay Wilder
Speaker 1: and and Tyson Fury in their matches. Oh I went
Speaker 1: to you know, when he came in in that carriage
Speaker 1: and they're playing whatever the song was, it was pretty
Speaker 1: you know, there's nothing like this feeling and the anticipation
Speaker 1: and everybody's standing up and they got their phones now
Speaker 1: in their cheir and then they're singing and it's it's
Speaker 1: pretty wild, and I think we're going to have that
Speaker 1: at Texas Stadium. I'm sure they'll be whatever fifty thousand
Speaker 1: plus people in the stadium, which is a huge crowd.
Speaker 1: It's cavernous, So it's going to probably not have the
Speaker 1: same feeling of like the MGM Grand Garden or T
Speaker 1: Mobile or you know, a smaller a smaller venue maybe
Speaker 1: perhaps outside at the we call it the Punch Bowl
Speaker 1: the old Stuff Hub Center down in Carson. But I
Speaker 1: think that that feeling, Colin, that feeling is going to
Speaker 1: be there for this, just because hey, he's Mike Tyson
Speaker 1: and it's getting so much publicity there advertising this on
Speaker 1: the NFL, on Fox, on NBC during Sunday Night Football,
Speaker 1: Monday Night Football, every time you turn on ESPN, you know,
Speaker 1: they're running these ads and Netflix, you know, with all
Speaker 1: of these millions of subscribers, you know, on a Friday
Speaker 1: night in the middle of the fall, I think November fifteenth,
Speaker 1: I don't know what college football it's up against, but
Speaker 1: I think that this fight is going to attract a
Speaker 1: tremendous amount of attention, and we just hope that you
Speaker 1: know that it's entertaining. And again, I just don't want
Speaker 1: to see Mike get hurt or Jake, I don't I
Speaker 1: don't want to see him get hurt either, you know,
Speaker 1: I just want to see, let's have some fun with this.
Speaker 1: I hope that that's the spirit that it's created in.
Speaker 1: I think that Mike is now at a point. He
Speaker 1: says that old iron Micha will never be back the
Speaker 1: guy who's vicious, mean, who you know, has a screw
Speaker 1: loose that he doesn't want to go back there. But
Speaker 1: he says, I don't have to be at that point
Speaker 1: internally to be able to beat this guy. So be interesting.
Speaker 1: What do you think Do you think that there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a huge audience for this?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's there's always an audience for a
Speaker 2: good fight. I think you know, I grew I've told
Speaker 2: Dana White this. I grew up a fight fan, and
Speaker 2: you know, I watched UFC for years. But I go
Speaker 2: to two or three or four UFC cards every summer
Speaker 2: when I have time, and there's nothing like it. The energy.
Speaker 2: I take friends, I've introduced cousins and they come away
Speaker 2: and they're like, man, the energy is like nothing I've
Speaker 2: ever seen. I took my wife to Connor McGregor, Mayweather,
Speaker 2: I said, you and she loved it, so they're they're there.
Speaker 2: I tell I've been so lucky in my life and
Speaker 2: now I do more, uh, you know, opinion than actually reporting. Right,
Speaker 2: we all know that I've transitioned to a more of
Speaker 2: an opinionist years ago. But if you if you told
Speaker 2: me I got three events a year, one of them
Speaker 2: would be a big fight. I saw six Pacquiao fights,
Speaker 2: you know. I whenever I was near Vegas or in
Speaker 2: Vegas and he fought. I went to Pakiao fights and
Speaker 2: and got great seats and paid for him. Sometimes I
Speaker 2: didn't care. I just I like these events all be watching.
Speaker 2: I'm fascinated by it.
Speaker 1: He was great to watch. I was lucky to broadcast
Speaker 1: a number of his fights on Showtime. Mayweather Pakiao, Mayweather
Speaker 1: McGregor was on Showtime, so I know exactly what you're feeling,
Speaker 1: you know. Lucky enough. The first first interview I ever
Speaker 1: did was with Muhammad Ali by total accident, so you know.
Speaker 1: And then he took me under his wing and got
Speaker 1: to go and interview him on numerous occasions through the
Speaker 1: end of his career. And I got into boxing, and
Speaker 1: it's it's been. It's it's been a terrific, terrific professional
Speaker 1: existence and I've loved every minute of it. And the
Speaker 1: fighters are unlike any other athletes Colin and it's not
Speaker 1: even close. They're in there by themselves. They put it
Speaker 1: all on the line of themselves. It's all dependent on them. Yes,
Speaker 1: they do have good trainers, and they do have good managers,
Speaker 1: and they do have good people around them, but at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, they're naked by themselves, in
Speaker 1: there wearing a pair of shorts with a couple of
Speaker 1: gloves on, and it's only up to them. They have
Speaker 1: to make their own adjustments on the fly. They have to,
Speaker 1: you know, overcome all sorts of obstacles, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's always pretty interesting to me, you know, the level
Speaker 1: of criticism that a fighter can take for what it
Speaker 1: is their performance is in loss and in victory. It's
Speaker 1: astonishing to me because there's not a person on the
Speaker 1: planet who's doing what we do or who's paying for
Speaker 1: a seat. They could last in there for ten seconds,
Speaker 1: yet they have all of the answers outside of it.
Speaker 1: You know, unlike all of us who've played football, basketball
Speaker 1: or baseball growing up, you don't play boxing. You don't
Speaker 1: play boxing. You play boxing, you're going to end up
Speaker 1: with no teeth in the gutter on the street. You
Speaker 1: don't play it, you better perfected, Jim.
Speaker 2: That was great. I appreciate you giving me twenty five
Speaker 2: minutes of your time.
Speaker 1: I really do good to talk to you. And we'll
Speaker 1: see you roam around the Brentwood Center someday. Maybe take care. Okay.
Speaker 2: So the fight was originally scheduled for July twentieth, and
Speaker 2: then he got moved back. Mike had a stomach culture
Speaker 2: and said he was thrown up blood, so they moved
Speaker 2: it back. I tend to think a pro athlete eight
Speaker 2: rounds two minutes, sixteen minutes of actual fighting. I would
Speaker 2: take the pro athlete over the hardworking, big tough guy,
Speaker 2: YouTuber businessman who's worked his tail off to be I
Speaker 2: think a legitimate boxer in Jake Paul. Tyson is fifty eight.
Speaker 2: He has not won a fight since two thousand and three.
Speaker 2: I think he agreed to two minute rounds. I think
Speaker 2: that's an advantage for Tyson. He can come out swinging.
Speaker 2: I think if these if it was ten three minute rounds,
Speaker 2: I would take Jake Paul but I think the advantage
Speaker 2: for Tyson is a shorter fight and shorter rounds. Specifically,
Speaker 2: you've watched UFC fights, even the best fighters in their prime,
Speaker 2: You can get gas by the end of these rounds, right,
Speaker 2: and UFC has longer rounds. Obviously, the three rule changes
Speaker 2: for the fight, and you can tell me who you
Speaker 2: think they benefit. The boxers will wear fourteen ounce gloves
Speaker 2: instead of ten ounce gloves, probably an advantage for Jake Paul,
Speaker 2: bigger gloves for Tyson. The rounds are two minutes instead
Speaker 2: of three. That's then advantage for Tyson. And the fight
Speaker 2: only goes up to eight rounds instead of ten or twelve. Again,
Speaker 2: I think that's an advantage for the older fighter. My
Speaker 2: money would be on Tyson. If it gets to round
Speaker 2: five or six of eight, then check out the betting odds.
Speaker 2: I'd probably go Jake Paul. I don't think Mike will
Speaker 2: have for very long anyway, a ton of mobility. I
Speaker 2: think he'll move pretty well in the first couple rounds.
Speaker 2: And again, Tyson at his best, at his prime, had
Speaker 2: a jab. Many of Tyson's later fights he was a
Speaker 2: cleanup hitter. He was just swinging for the fence and
Speaker 2: that could be effective enough. You know, Jake Paul. I
Speaker 2: think if I was Jake Paul, I would be more
Speaker 2: nervous than if I was Mike Tyson facing Jake Paul.
Speaker 2: So I think I think Jake Paul is going to
Speaker 2: be pretty reluctant, is going to kind of stay away
Speaker 2: for a round or two. Micha will be the aggressor.
Speaker 2: What you hope is Mike doesn't punch himself out early
Speaker 2: being the aggressor. If I was Jake Paul, you know
Speaker 2: my feeling would be I'm the younger athlete. I'm going
Speaker 2: to push this thing to five or six rounds and
Speaker 2: move around. But I also think Jake Paul is going
Speaker 2: to have some anxiety early. Now Jake Paul may look
Speaker 2: at it and think, well, that's what Tyson thinks. I'm
Speaker 2: going to go right after him. I'm going to go
Speaker 2: right after Tyson. Stun him, get him back on his heels,
Speaker 2: work him up, piss him off, get Mike to be
Speaker 2: a little untethered. That's possible. Longer goes. I think everybody
Speaker 2: would take the younger kid. But you know, Jake's only
Speaker 2: twenty seven years old, so you're in your athletic Prime
Speaker 2: from about twenty six, maybe about twenty five to thirty
Speaker 2: one thirty two, So you know, Jake's in tremendous shape.
Speaker 2: But and I've always taken his boxing career. He's ten
Speaker 2: and one seriously. I watched him fight Tommy Freury, Anderson Silva,
Speaker 2: Tyron Woodley, Nate Robinson was the big knockout. His only
Speaker 2: loss was a split decision to Tommy Fury, who's not
Speaker 2: a great fighter.
Speaker 1: You know he's a fighter.
Speaker 2: So my guess is Tyson. I stylistically, I just want
Speaker 2: to see what Mike has in the tank. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I listen.
Speaker 2: He still can bring a huge left hook, there's no question.
Speaker 2: And I've seen some of the video with sparring partners.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't want to be Mike's sparring partner. So I'm
Speaker 2: going to take Tyson in round four. I can't wait
Speaker 2: to watch it. I really can't. Netflix Friday. Check it out.
Speaker 1: The volume.
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