Masters track records show why 58-year-old Tyson never stood a chance against young YouTuber
For many, Jake Paul’s boxing victory over Mike Tyson last weekend was painfully predictable. However, if you doubted which way it would go, all you had to do was imagine such athleticism head-to-head.
How would Michael Johnson, the former 200m and 400m world record holder, fare if he took on a sprinter half his age? At 57, Johnson is a year younger than Tyson, for example.
Even the world’s best 400m runners in the M55 age group only manage to run 52 seconds dead. The world record, meanwhile, is nine seconds faster. Sure, Paul is hardly the boxing equivalent of a 43-second 400m runner, but even if the 27-year-old’s fighting skills were comparable to, say, a 48- or 49-second lap athlete, he’d still be out of the race. the world’s #1 M55 runner is a few seconds behind.
Looking at other athletics events, no M55 athlete managed to break two minutes for the 800m, 4:10 for the 1500m, 4:30 for the mile, 6.50m for the long jump or 67m for the javelin, all of which are top performances. club level athletes can achieve.
Boxing requires a lot of technique, but these athletic statistics make it clear that speed, strength, and endurance decline alarmingly with age, especially after age 40.
Tyson was at his peak in the late 1980s, but how many track and field athletes from that era would compete now in 2024 against good club athletes who train seriously?
Alice Braham in 2006 (left) and 1995 (right) (Mark Shearman)
For Alice Braham, life is a marathon, not a sprint
It’s almost 30 years since Alice Braham finished top of the British under-20s at the world championships in Durham, so it’s great to see the 48-year-old endurance athlete still running so well.
The transition from junior to senior ranks was difficult to say the least for Braham and fellow players such as Heidi Moulder, Nicola Slater and Ali Outram. But despite the effects of injuries and childhood breaks, Braham has emerged as a formidable master runner in recent years and clocked an impressive 2:39:42 at the Berlin Marathon this fall.
Coincidentally, Braham was the first athlete I interviewed AW:. Back in April 1995, he appeared in our young athlete column alongside my front row. A budding journalist himself, he later wrote a bit AW: at the turn of the millennium, before working in travel journalism and more recently as a personal trainer and coach.
Learn more about him in my colleague Tim Adams’ excellent book feature here.
Twitter’s days seem numbered
Twitter (or should I say “X”) has been a useful tool for athletes and athletics fans for years when it comes to sports news, interesting or entertaining opinions, and even simple results.
At the 2010 World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, I remember tweeting the results of leading Brits such as Mo Farah, Steph Twell, Kate Avery and Emelia Gorecka minutes after crossing the finish line. As the event was not televised or broadcast to UK viewers, nor was there any live coverage provided by the organisers, Twitter was one of the quickest and easiest ways to spread the word.
Those with long memories will also recall the brilliant fake story of Charles van Comede during the London Olympics, to name just one example.
But times are changing. It is noticeable that many elite athletes have gradually gravitated towards Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Why? Over the years, Twitter has slowly become tarnished with too many nasty posts. Elon Musk’s recent ownership spree and his political ties to Donald Trump have also been the last straw for many, prompting an exodus of sorts to the good ol’ Bluesky ship.
It will be interesting to see if Bluesky gains any traction or follows in the footsteps of Periscope, Insta Threads and other platforms that have not stood the test of time.
» Subscribe to AW Magazine herecheck out our new podcast! here or subscribe to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here
The post Why Mike Tyson’s aging athleticism was never a match for Jake Paul appeared first AW:.
