When Mike Tyson, 58, fights Jake Paul, here are some health concerns

Mike Tyson is not the typical 58-year-old. Actually, Tyson is not the typical birthday boy. So it is not yet entirely clear how exactly age can affect Tyson’s boxing skills when he faces 27-year-old YouTuber Jake Paul on Friday evening. Nevertheless, there are some important health things to look out for when “Iron Mike” Tyson steps into the ring at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas

You would expect “Iron Mike” to show some rust. After all, Tyson’s last boxing match of his professional career took place almost twenty years ago, in 2005, when he lost to Kevin McBride in a sixth-round TKO, also known as a technical knockout. That was technically Tyson’s last competitive fight. November 2020 marked the last time Tyson competed in a public boxing match that didn’t take place on a JetBlue airline flight. That was an exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr., which ended in a draw. Although Tyson has trained for the match against Paul, training is not the same as a real match. So who knows how long it will take for Iron Mike to iron out some wrinkles when he steps into the ring against Paul for the first time.

Additionally, Tyson’s reflexes, reaction times, and speed may have decreased over time with age. Even though Tyson was known for his strength in his early years – by 1986 he had amassed a 22-0 record with 21 of those wins by knockout – what made him special. Will Tyson be able to unleash the same combinations in the same way he was able to knock out Marvis Frazier in just 30 seconds in their 1986 fight?

Um, how about no. Studies such as one published in Nature Human behavior And another published in PLOS ONE have shown that people’s physical reflexes typically begin to decline in their 20s, with an average peak around age 24. It is unlikely that Tyson will be able to dodge punches and respond with counter punches as quickly as he did when he became the youngest ever heavyweight champion at the age of 20. years and 4 months on November 22, 1986.

Another physical attribute that may have diminished for Tyson is endurance. A publication in the Journal of Physiology described how people can maintain maximum endurance into their mid-30s, but then decline. Therefore, Tyson may need to pick up the pace during the fight to avoid becoming too exhausted if it goes all eight rounds.

Now, the SNAP! “I’ve got the power” lyrics can still apply to Tyson. During its heyday, it was estimated that the force of a Tyson punch was equivalent to that of a collision with a Vespa motorcycle moving about 15 kilometers per hour or nine miles per hour. Typically, one can maintain youthful muscle mass and strength longer until about age 50, assuming one remains active with weight-bearing exercise rather than descending to bon-bon eating as the primary form of exercise. But after half a century, muscle mass and strength may begin to decline. according to a publication in Sports medicine. Nevertheless, even if Tyson’s punch has become equivalent to a slower-moving Vespa, you still don’t want a motorcycle of any speed to drive into your face.

Speaking of things like getting in your face – or any part of your head for that matter – beating your brains out gets harder as you get older. Think of your brain as a pickle floating in a jar of liquid, while the jar is the cranial cavity within your skull. In your twenties, your brain fits better in your skull. But as your brain begins to shrink in size between the ages of 30 and 40, it can move more within the skull, assuming your overall head size hasn’t changed, which is usually the case.

Therefore, a blow to the head could cause the brain to rattle more and bounce off the sides of the cranial cavity like a bumper car, resulting in more damage to the brain and possible rupture of blood vessels. That’s one reason you don’t see as many people headbutting each other in the workplace as you do in college or high school.

On the other hand, Tyson will probably have more experience with age. This can help him fight smarter to conserve energy, avoid direct blows to the head, and choose the right moments to go offensive versus defensive. It’s common for other star athletes, like Tom Brady and LeBron James, to change their game plans as they get older, just as you’ve probably changed your approach to clubbing over time. Additionally, Tyson’s training regimen may now be more disciplined than in his younger days, where he may have relied more on his natural talent.

Finally, it’s not like Tyson is fighting Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury or any other current top boxer. That wouldn’t be a fair fight. He fights Paul, who initially became known for producing YouTube videos as ‘It’s Everyday Bro’, and not for his boxing skills. Although Paul has since scored some victories in the boxing ring, his boxing career has not come close to Tyson’s. Paul did not become the first boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight titles and ultimately be inducted into both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame, as Tyson did.