Tyson vs. Paul: What the stats tell us about the fight - ESPN

Mike Tyson will compete in a sanctioned fight for the first time since June 2005 when he faces Jake Paul in a eight-round heavyweight bout Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (Netflix, 8 p.m. ET). The last time Tyson, 58, fought in a official bout, he suffered a sixth-round TKO against Kevin McBride. He didn't fight again until Nov. 28, 2020, when he met Roy Jones Jr. in an eight-round exhibition.

During his first reign as heavyweight champion, which started Nov. 22, 1986, with a win over Trevor Berbick to capture the WBC title, Tyson was one of the most dominant boxers in recent history. For the next three-plus years, Tyson amassed a record of 10-0 with nine KOs, unified all the title belts and became undisputed champion. He landed 16.3 of 34.5 punches per round (47.2%, nearly 15% higher than the heavyweight division average).

Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) was also very effective with his power punches, landing an incredible 55.1% (12.4 per round) — the division average is 39.7% (9.5 per round).

Paul (10-1, 7 KOs), a YouTuber-turned-prizefighter, started boxing professionally in January 2020, fighting mostly former UFC fighters and fellow YouTubers, scoring KO wins in four of his first five bouts.

Their fight Friday will be contested with 2-minute rounds and with 14-ounce gloves. Heavyweight boxing matches are regularly contested at 3-minute rounds with 10-ounce gloves.

To have a better sense of the age difference between Tyson and Paul: When Paul was born in January 1997, Tyson was already a 30-year-old champion with a record of 45-2 and 39 KOs.

With that disparity in experience — and age — let's look at the fight through the numbers.

31: Age difference, in years, between Tyson (58) and Paul (27).

47: Tyson's fights