One of the greatest fictional boxers to grace the big screen has weighed in on the recent boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. Sylvester Stallone, who played the iconic character "Rocky Balboa," posted on Instagram that Tyson gave "one of the great Oscar-winning performances of all-time" in Friday's fight against the social media star.
"Just to set my personal record straight. Business is business," Stallone wrote. "SOMETIMES you have to do some things you HAVE to do 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!!!!
"So in conclusion, I'll take a line from Rocky, 'he's a wrecking machine, anything he touches it breaks badly.' 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!"
Paul ended up winning the highly-anticipated fight via unanimous decision after it went the full eight rounds. The judges ruled the fight 80–72, 79–73, and 79–73 in favor of Paul, who now boasts an 11-1 record in the ring.
Tyson earned a fair amount of criticism for his performance in Friday's night. This marked the first fight for the 58-year-old since he fought Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition bout back in 2020.
Meanwhile, Stallone embodied a fighting spirit playing "Rocky Balboa" in the "Rocky" series, which tells the story of a true underdog in several films and is being carried on in the "Creed" series with fellow actor Michael B. Jordan.