Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul: Nintendo Punch-Out!! Characters as Today’s Boxers

Mr. Sandman

Mr. Sandman showed up in the original arcade version of Punch-Out!! in 1984 and remained a mainstay in the series as one of the top bosses. Not only do Sandman and Ngannou look a lot alike, they are basically the same size. Mr. Sandman is billed at 6'5", while Ngannou is 6 foot 4. The former UFC champ has weighed in around 260 pounds in the past but after some carbing up, he'd be right there with Sandman's 284 pounds. Ngannou was known as one of the hardest punchers in the UFC heavyweight division, while Mr. Sandman's Razor Uppercut was a lethal punch. If PFL ever wants to make a video game, all they need to do is ask Nintendo to pull Mr. Sandman's code, and presto, their heavyweight champ, Ngannou.

Mike Tyson Now

To the surprise of absolutely no one, NES Mike Tyson will be played by the latest real-life boxing version of Mike Tyson. We last saw Mike in a "split draw" against fellow former boxing legend and multi-weight class champion Roy Jones. Jones, no stranger to video games himself, graced the cover of Fight Night 2004 (another excellent boxing game series), one of EA's biggest sellers of that year. 

Back to real life as the November 2020 meeting between Tyson and Junior was an eight-round exhibition, each lasting two minutes. 

This bout was no true draw as Tyson dominated the action, outlanding Jones massively, who did much more tying up than throwing punches. With nothing on the line, I suspect everyone involved just wanted both fighters to save face.

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On the undercard of the event was a little-known entity in the world of boxing at the time, someone this version of Iron Mike will get to know very personally on Friday night in Dallas.

Jake Paul as...

Enter Jake Paul. Four years before Tyson vs. Paul, going down at AT&T Stadium was announced, Jake had his second "pro" fight as Iron Mike awaited Jones Jr. in the main event. It's hard to call it professional when the man the YouTube star turned pugilist looked eye-to-eye with, or eye-to-air with, was one of the shortest players to play in the NBA. 

Nate Robinson, ya the former New York Knick and three-time NBA slam dunk champion, needed all the ups he could muster to jump-punch Paul's 6'1" head. You see, as much as Robinson could fly, at 5'9" and 20 pounds lighter, was it all that surprising to see him get KOed in two rounds?

The Problem Child has undoubtedly improved after rumors swirled about questionable KOs of grappler Ben Askren and former UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley. Whether they took dives or not, Paul looked the part with decision wins over former UFC Middleweight champ and pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva, and long-time lightweight and welterweight UFC contender Nate Diaz. Granted, both MMA specialists were well past their prime, with Silva at 47 for his 2022 loss and Diaz at 38 before his defeat in August 2023.

So now, here we are with a 58-year-old Tyson, the one to see if the 27-year-old Paul's chin is for real. My money is on Paul's chin being more like our next Punch Out!! slide...

Glass Joe

Oh, Glass Joe! How I loved you at first and hated you so quickly. Starting off playing this game, it was nice to get an easy win. Still, eventually, the wish for a Nintendo fast-forward button matching my top loader VCR was the dream. Glass Joe was no stranger to dreams, more familiar with the canvas than Chuck Taylor, with plenty of forced naps in the ring and apparently between rounds. One of the 110-pounder's "trash talk" lines was, "Do I have time to take a nap before the fight?" With a record of 1-99, whoever his lone KO win came against is the guy to meet in the darkest alley. Despite his apparent desire to be anywhere else on the planet than a boxing ring, Joe has become one of the most well-known fighters of the Punch-Out!! Universe.

Jake Paul knows about that kind of popularity. The former Vine and now YouTube star has over 20 million subscribers with more than seven billion views. Joe has dozens of parody X (formerly Twitter) accounts, a Fan Page, and has appeared in every version of Punch-Out!! since 1984.

Both fighters are blonde, with some striking resemblance. While Joe was named after his shattering chin, Paul's has yet to be truly tested. If Tyson knocks out the Problem Child, the Glass Joe rank sticks; if Paul KOs Iron Mike, maybe he graduates to Super Punch-Out!!'s Super Macho Man. 

Now that we have tonight's Paul vs Tyson Nintendo versions cast, let's scroll through some other heavyweights.

Oleksandr Usyk as...

Undefeated at 22-0, Oleksandr Usyk is an Olympic gold medalist and held world championships at cruiserweight and heavyweight. The Ukrainian slugger has held WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO titles and most recently claimed the WBC title after beating Tyson Fury earlier this year. If only his Punch-Out!! counterpart had as much success.

Von Kaiser

European, mustache...need I say more? While there may be some similarities between Punch-Out!!'s second opponent and the heavyweight champion of the world, size and record are not some of them. Von Kaiser weighed in at just 144 pounds with a record of 23-13. No word on if one of Usyk's early telegraph tells were waggling his moustache or starting to turn red like the fictional German boxer.

Deontay Wilder as...

Deontay Wilder is a former WBC heavyweight champion with 42 KO wins on his record. His Punch-Out!! doppelganger is not.

Piston Hurricane

Piston Hurricane is a Punch-Out!! OG. It's Hurricane, not Von Kaiser, who is the second opponent in the arcade original of Punch-Out!!. For the NES version, Hurricane became Piston Honda, only for Hurricane to return in Super Nintendo's Super Punch-Out!!, which is how you see him above. There is a certain resemblance to Wilder, although even more so to the original arcade version.

Tyson Fury as...

Tyson Fury is arguably the Mike Tyson of his generation. One of the most dominant boxers of the past decade, Fury has beaten almost everyone and was undefeated before losing his heavyweight title to Oleksandr Usyk early this year. The Gypsy King has won multiple titles in the heavyweight division and is one of the most well-known faces in boxing. Although we think his face or maybe more head looks a lot like a pair of mid-card Punch-Out!! characters.

Bald Bull

Finally, a Punch-Out!! boxers in a weight class similar to their real-life counterparts. Bald Bull has been a mainstay in the Punch-Out!! series ever since the first version in the mid-1980s. The 298-pounder has made the most video game appearances of any Punch-Out!! characters going from the arcade to NES to the Wii. He even showed up in Super Smash Bros. While Bald Bull may have a similar size, haircut, and look to Fury, another Super Punch-Out!! boxer might even look more like the British former heavyweight champ.

Soda Popinski

With a bald head, facial hair, similar tan (or lack thereof), and even a closer height to Fury than Bald Bull, Soda Popinski might win out between the two Punch-Out!! chrome domes. Billed standing 6'6" to Fury's 6'9", Popinski is close in size to his real-life comparison. Originally known as the much more hilarious name of Vodka Drunkenski, the Russian 8-bit pugilist first appeared in 1985's arcade classic Super Punch-Out!! before making his return in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

Francis Ngannou as...

Francis Ngannou made big news when he left the UFC to give boxing a try. All he did in his first boxing match was go the distance with then-undefeated champ Tyson Fury, knocking him down along the way. Before leaving the octagon for the sweet science, Ngannou knocked out Stipe Miocic to win the UFC Heavyweight title. The big man currently holds the PFL Super Fights Heavyweight Championship. In our minds, Ngannou is a dead-ringer for one of the Punch-Out!! OGs.

Mr. Sandman

Mr. Sandman showed up in the original arcade version of Punch-Out!! in 1984 and remained a mainstay in the series as one of the top bosses. Not only do Sandman and Ngannou look a lot alike, they are basically the same size. Mr. Sandman is billed at 6'5", while Ngannou is 6 foot 4. The former UFC champ has weighed in around 260 pounds in the past but after some carbing up, he'd be right there with Sandman's 284 pounds. Ngannou was known as one of the hardest punchers in the UFC heavyweight division, while Mr. Sandman's Razor Uppercut was a lethal punch. If PFL ever wants to make a video game, all they need to do is ask Nintendo to pull Mr. Sandman's code, and presto, their heavyweight champ, Ngannou.