Jake Paul sent Mike Tyson back to retirement but the real fight of the weekend was Jon Jones' clash against Stipe Miocic.
We might not have had the pleasure of watching club football last weekend, but it was still one of the most anticipated weekends for sports lovers this year.
It was a weekend like no other because of the two big fights that took place in the United States on Friday and Saturday nights.
Although there were other sporting events like the UEFA Nations League, NBA, World Cup qualifiers and the NFL, none of these events made a splash like the two fights that we witnessed over the weekend.
However, despite the two fights making global headlines, none lived up to expectations. In fact, one was a circus show.
And as per tradition, Housebets takes a look at how the weekend went down for sports lovers.
Going into the weekend, one event was on everyone’s lips: the fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
Although it was a fight that everyone criticised, people were still excited to see Tyson back in action.
If you believe that’s not the case, look at the 60,000 crowd that turned up at AT&T stadium on Friday night.
But while people were excited to see the fight, including the 60m people watching on Netflix globally, they went with tempered expectations.
This was because the fight made no sense, considering their age difference. Paul is fighting a guy who is 31 years older than him. Yes, it’s Mike Tyson but he last fought professionally 24 years ago, losing to Kevin McBride.
But despite the criticism, the fight went ahead on Friday night. To be honest, the atmosphere at the venue was electric but the main event failed to match the vibe.
The fight was indeed a clown show as Tyson was gassed out after round two. It was clear that he should not have been there.
Although the fight went full eight rounds, it was because Paul decided not to hurt the 58-year-old veteran.
On the flip side, however, the co-main event Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano did deliver, with Taylor once again triumphing via a controversial majority decision.
Twenty-four hours after the Paul vs Tyson fight, attention shifted to UFC 309 as Jon Jones put his heavyweight belt on the line against former champion Stipe Miocic.
Both fighters came into the clash after a long layoff. Before Saturday night, Jones’ last fight was against Ciryl Gane in 2023 while Miocic had not fought since losing to Francis Nngannou in 2021.
Nonetheless, it was still a fight people wanted to see as Jones was undefeated while Miocic was a former two-time heavyweight champion.
Unfortunately, that long layoff affected Miocic as he looked a shadow of himself in the fight. Jones, meanwhile, was in top shape, dominating the fight from the start before ending the fight in the third round via a technical knockout.
Away from combat sports to the tennis court, where Jannik Sinner completed one of the best years in ATP history by winning the ATP finals in Turin.
The 23-year-old beat America’s Taylor Fritz in straight sets to win his first ATP finals. Sinner had beaten Fritz in the round-robin stage before doing the same in the final by the same scoreline, 6-4, 6-4.
The Italian was flawless in the match, breaking in the seventh game of the first set before going on to take it 6-4.
The second set was again competitive, but Sinner broke in the fifth game before going on to win 6-4, 6-4.
It completed a dominant year for the Italian, who went the whole tournament without dropping a set.
This year has been the best of Sinner’s young career so far, winning the Australian Open, US Open and the ATP finals. In addition, he also finished the year as the World No. 1.
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