Jake Paul has insisted he suffered an injury prior to the fight and held back from knocking out Mike Tyson during his unanimous decision win.
The 27-year-old outpointed the former heavyweight champion, who is 31-years senior, with judges scoring the bout 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73 in the Problem Child’s favour.
The contest proved to be a hard watch for boxing fans, with the ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’ looking every bit of his age.
A shadow of his former self in the ring, Paul has earned praise for appearing to hold back in stopping ‘Iron Mike’ inside the distance.
Paul insisted that was the case in his post-fight press conference, while also revealing an injury he picked up in camp led to him failing to be at 100 per cent.
He said: “Two weeks ago I sprained my ankle, completely tore the ligament, anterior ligament and like snapped the other side of my foot.
“[I] Was on crutches for four or five days and it just hindered the end of my training camp.
“I don’t know how it didn’t get leaked or anything. I missed about two weeks of sparring and that’s why my cardio didn’t really feel so good tonight.”
The ex-Disney actor then confessed he resisted the temptation in trying to blast out Tyson.
Commenting on his bout with the 58-year-old, Paul remarked: “I wanted to give the fans a show.
“But I didn’t want to hurt someone that didn’t need to be hurt.
“There was a point where he was not engaging back, I could just tell his age was showing a little bit.
“That violence war thing… that went away as the rounds went on. People just love to hate me. I intentionally say things for people to hate.
“That’s what I like to do. If people want to see more… give me a couple of months. I tried to give the best fight I possibly could.
“When someone’s just surviving in the ring, it’s hard to make it exciting. I don’t care what people have to say. It is what it is.”
Paul also reposted a tweet from talkSPORT boxing editor Michael Benson, which said that, ‘He did the right thing by not pursuing the knockout’.
Many will argue, if that is the case, why did Paul fight Tyson in the first place?
Following the bout, numerous boxers and ex-fighters criticised the Ohio native for exploiting Tyson in his old age.
Three-weight world champion Gervonta Davis was heavily critical of Paul, as he posted on Instagram: “To the bozo that shared the ring with Mike, you a whole bozo for this and you didn’t get the job done s***head.”
Before adding: “I’ll beat the brakes off of him. When I catch him, uppercut, jab, left hook, uppercut then just watch.”
Former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew meanwhile went as far as to insist the boxing world should boycott Paul until he fights a suitable opponent.
“WE are all to blame for this man!!” Bellew wrote on X.
“We are all talking and watching! We have to stop this fool! Don’t tune into him until he fights someone who is fit healthy and not a grandfather!
“Any proper boxing people helping Paul need to look at themselves ffs!! This is just sad.”
As for YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI, he branded the contest as ‘disgusting’ and that it was ‘elderly abuse’.
Despite what proved to be an under-whelming fight, both Tyson and Paul were paid a handsome sum to pit their wits against each other.
Tyson reportedly pocketed a guaranteed $20million [£15.8m] for his participation in the clash, while Paul may earn double with a total purse of $40m [£31.4m].
