Jake Paul makes immediate fight excuse and blames Mike Tyson as thousands of fans boo and leave

Jake Paul has defended his controversial fight with Mike Tyson, stating it was "hard to make it exciting" after fans left early during the bout. Paul emerged victorious over 58 year old Tyson by unanimous decision in what was the former undisputed world heavyweight champion's first fight in 19 years.

The eight-round match took place at the ATandT Stadium in Texas and was streamed on Netflix, with scores of 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73 in favour of the YouTuber-turned-boxer. Despite an initial crowd of 70k at the Dallas Cowboys' home ground, thousands departed before the end of the main event, where Paul secured a comfortable win and Tyson struggled to move, showing little of his renowned power.

In fact, Tyson's performance was so lacklustre that Paul spent the final 10 seconds of the fight bowing and paying respect to him. Following the disappointing spectacle and subsequent backlash on social media, Paul revealed in his post-fight press conference that he had suffered an injury two days prior.

He revealed: "Two days ago I sprained my ankle, completely tore the ligament, anterior ligament and like snapped the other side of my foot. 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."

He also took a jab at Tyson for the less than thrilling fight adding: "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 (Tyson) 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.", reports the Mirror.

The athlete continued with a candid admission about his public persona: "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."

In conclusion, he shrugged off criticism: "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."

In the aftermath of the fight, Tyson's coach, Rafael Cordeiro, expressed his belief in Tyson's abilities and determination. He told the gathered media: "We worked for seven months for this moment. I truly believed we had this victory before the fight. He never asked to give up. We are really proud of Mike, the way he trained for seven months, he put his life aside for training."

He added: "He's the people's champ. He's inspired many people outside of the ring. The most important thing that Mike is going back home to his loved ones."