The fight against time - Shawn's Sense with Shawn Loughlin

Early in my column-writing career I would hear - not always, but also not infrequently - that my column was always all about sports. More specifically, baseball or soccer - my two real sporting loves. I have, in the years since, made a concerted effort to curb the sports content in my column, absorbing that constructive criticism, learning from it and making the appropriate changes. However, sometimes there’s just a sporting achievement that is too impressive and world-changing to ignore and I have a journalistic responsibility to recognize it for what it is.

 

That’s right - it’s time to talk about Jake Paul. The 27-year-old alleged boxer and confirmed doofus who beat Mike Tyson, one of the greatest boxers of all time, in a farcical contest over the weekend. Farcical, of course, because Tyson is 58 years old and was one of the greatest boxers of all time… quite some time ago. Tyson is now eligible for a seniors’ discount at some stores and a 27-year-old whose “career” began with dancing on YouTube (indeed, Paul was six months old for Tyson-Holyfield II, the infamous ear-biting fight) has taken great pride in beating him in a boxing match - one of the most physically-demanding sporting feats.
As someone who has loved Tyson as a boxer for many years and one of only two people in Blyth to have seen Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth, Tyson’s one-man show, live at Detroit’s Fox Theatre (the other is Jess), I feel uniquely qualified to weigh in. He certainly looked good for a 58-year-old and the fact that the fight went the distance is admirable. However, how can Paul gloat in any way whatsoever about beating someone in a boxing match - again, tremendously physically demanding - who is twice his age?

 

This is the question being asked by most legitimate sports pundits, of course, but… what do they know? Go break down another trade in the NBA, geek! Paul should be celebrated as the trailblazer and elite athlete that he is. In fact, perhaps it should spark a whole revolution. Should we let these geezers rest on their laurels after they retire from competitive sport? Hell no, gramps.
Surely Paul won’t rest on his laurels either. I mean, George Foreman is sitting right there. Two-time World Heavyweight Champion and an Olympic gold medallist, sure, but he’s 75 and hasn’t had a fight since 1997. It’s hard for me, just as someone who has loved boxing, to understand the laziness of Foreman here. If you’re putting together a body of work, do you just stop at some point? Foreman thinks so.

 

And, I mean, Paul wouldn’t even have had to leave the arena to take out Lennox Lewis (59) and the aforementioned Evander Holyfield (62). They were both there to talk with Tyson before the bell rang. Paul should have ambushed them both and got what’s his.

 

Sugar Ray Leonard fought in the lighter classes for most of his career, but maybe now that he’s 68 years old, he’s packed on some pounds and Paul can have a proper fight with him. Weight classes, as we all know, are the most sacred of classifications in boxing. You want to cross weight classes and be taken seriously? Get real.

 

Maybe we should all learn from Paul. Let’s all make New Year’s Resolutions to take dead aim at the most accomplished old person in our lives and take them down, showing them how much better we are at stuff than they are. If you know an octogenarian who used to be a firefighter - challenge that man to a ladder-climbing competition. If he’s man enough, he’ll do it.