"Every day you get older, now that's a law."

On aging and the forthcoming fight between Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson

The 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid opens with the latter almost getting into a duel with a man who accuses him of cheating at cards. At this point, Butch advises Sundance:

I’m over the hill but it can happen to you. Every day you get older, now that’s a law.

This first statement by Butch establishes the theme of the film—that is, two men running from Death, which is ultimately personified by a mysterious Pinkerton detective named Joe Lefors who is recognizable by his white boater hat. Like death, Lefors is unshakable and inexorable. No matter what Butch and Sundance do to evade him, he remains on their trail till the end.

With the much publicized Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight on November 15 less than a month away, I’ve been thinking about Butch and Sundance.

The forthcoming bout must surely be one of the strangest sporting events ever conceived. Jake “the Problem Child” Paul is 27 years old, while “Iron Mike” Tyson will be 58 at the time of the fight.

In his prime, Tyson would have handily knocked out Jake Paul in the first round, but when it comes to fighting, the difference between a 27 and 58 is a vast and terrifying gulf.

To be sure, Tyson is still a formidably strong man. In his training videos looks very fit and he can be seen performing his signature bob and weave and spectacular combination punches on the heavy bags and the training mitts. However, training is one thing; climbing into the ring with a young killer is quite another.

Paul doesn’t possess a fraction of Iron Mike’s skill. Watching him fight, I am struck by what appears to be his over reliance on his arm strength. Truly skilled punches originate in the legs, not in the arms. When Tyson was in his prime, he could purportedly do 1000 squats in one training session, but I doubt he could pull this off today.

Mike’s greatest vulnerability is his aging head. After forty, the meninges—the three membrane layers that cover and protect the brain and spinal cord —begin to shrink, making the brain much more susceptible to damage from a blow to the head.

Jake Paul is brimming with confidence because of his enormous youth advantage, but he is nevertheless in for an intimidating spectacle in the opening round when Iron Mike will doubtless charge him, get in close, and throw some very hard punches. While he has lost much of the speed of his youth, Mike can still generate tremendous power. It’s likely that Paul has never experienced the kind of punches the old man can still throw.

Mike Tyson is a hero of my long lost youth, so I am really rooting for him. It would be an absolute triumph for us old timers if succeeds in knocking out the Problem Child.