In his first professional bout in almost two decades, Mike Tyson went up against someone 31 years younger than him. So, it made sense why Netflix made a few changes: eight 2-minute rounds and 14-ounce gloves instead of 10-ounce ones to limit the force of the punches. Netflix wanted a show. Did they get it? Not entirely. But was one of either Tyson or Jake Paul holding back?

Well, per the YouTuber-turned-boxer, he sure did take his foot off the gas. When asked, Paul said, “Yeah, definitely. Definitely a bit. I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt someone who didn’t need to be hurt.” That someone being Mike Tyson. In fact, the 27-year-old even said the former world champion’s punches didn’t have an impact on him. “I tried to give the best fight I possibly could, but when someone’s just surviving in the ring basically, it’s hard to make it exciting.

“I couldn’t really get him to engage me.” Jake Paul may have bowed down to Mike Tyson in the final few seconds of the bout on November 15. But all that respect seems to have flown out the window after he cruised to a comfortable unanimous decision victory… and Sylvester Stallone has had enough.

There’s no denying that ‘Iron Mike’ appeared to be a pale shadow of his former self, with a knee guard on his right leg and constant biting of his boxing glove. But unlike what Paul said, it looked like Tyson appeared to be setting up shots and then abandoning them before landing the final blow. This allowed fans and pros to flaunt some speculative theories, and the ‘Rocky’ star has similar arguments.

Stallone, 78, turned to his Instagram handle and shared multiple pictures with the former heavyweight champion. The star of the ‘Rocky’ franchise had even roped Tyson once into his film, ‘Grudge Match,’ to play himself in the post-credit scenes. So, the friendship runs deep, and the same was reflected in the caption of his Instagram post. In addition, he believed Tyson, at 50-7, put in a dismal display as a sacrifice for his family.

While sharing a couple of their pictures together, Stallone wrote, “Just to set my personal record straight. Business is business. SOMETIMES you have to do hard things and sacrifice for the sake of helping your FAMILY. I have known this unbelievable athlete since he’s 19 years old and what we saw was him giving one of the great Oscar winning performances of all time!!!!” And then, in proper Rocky Balboa fashion, he put the 28-year-old in his place.

“Please, Jake, be grateful. HE SPARED YOUR LIFE! Trust me,” the caption read further. The action star then pushed Paul, at 11-1, to try Tyson for real. He also shared the tale of once bumping into ‘Baddest Man on Planet’ and compared it to getting hit by a bulldozer. He added, “Keep punching Mike. There will never be a MAN like you, a GLADIATOR like you, and a SOUL like you! Keep punching champion of champions! I remember once I bumped into him and thought I was hit by runaway BULLDOZER!!!”

As for Mike Tyson, this loss may have gone onto his professional record, but that didn’t seem to matter to the 58-year-old. What mattered to him was the fact that he walked into AT&T Stadium and put on a show like he promised. Yes, he may have slowed down after the second round, but he put up a fight till the final bell. “I didn’t prove nothing to anybody, only to myself,” Tyson said. “I’m not one of those guys that looks to please the world. I’m just happy with what I can do.”

However, the former world champion did admit to being “grateful” for his opponent showing his respect inside the ring, per Daily Mail. After the fight, ‘Iron Mike’ even tweeted, “This is one of those situations when you lost but still won. I’m grateful for last night. No regrets to get in the ring one last time.” Jake Paul replied to the tweet: “Love you, Mike. It was an honor. You’re an inspiration to us all.”

That said, ‘Sly’ Stallone expressed his candid opinion of the fight between Tyson and Paul… and he wasn’t pleased with the 28-year-old. But he was not the only one to raise skepticism. Carl Froch had done it even before the fight.

Doubts cast over the legitimacy of the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight

Froch, 47, alleged that the contract between Paul and Tyson had a particular stipulation for the latter. To not knock out Paul. He said, “Depends what it says in the contract, doesn’t it? Allegedly, there’s a clause in there that says [Tyson] can’t go for it (a knockout). So we’ll see, won’t we?”

The former British world champion also contested for the fight to be fought under exhibition rules. You would also remember how Paul’s $5 million bet offer to Tyson had caused an uproar among the fans. However, these rumors can’t be confirmed. Therefore, Froch and Stallone’s opinions remain unverified as of now and hold only personal sentiments.

In fact, even former NFL player Michael Irvin hinted at this in an appearance on Colin Cowherd’s podcast. “I was looking for that patent ‘one in the body, one on the uppercut,” Irvin said. “When he hits that, it’s boom, boom, boom. I want to see that. But we didn’t get that, not a one. And I saw someone else say that it was in the contract — ‘no uppercuts.’ They had it in the contract.”

However, listening to accusations like this made Most Valuable Promotions co-founder Nikisa Bidarian say that people only make such comments if they’re “dumb, or looking for attention.” What do you make of these comments about Mike Tyson and Jake Paul’s fight? Let us know in the comments below.