However, at certain points, it appeared that the 27-year-old was starting to ease off and he made no discernible attempt to go for the KO.

In his post-fight press conference, a reporter asked: “At any point did you start to take your foot off the gas just a little bit because you knew he was tiring out?”

Paul, without much hesitation, replied: “Yeah, definitely. Definitely a bit. I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt someone [Tyson] that didn’t need to be hurt.”

In the ring, Paul showed his respect for Tyson, who was nowhere near the same boxer as he was back in 2005 when he announced his retirement.

“It’s such an honour. Let’s give it up for Mike, the greatest to ever do it,” he said. “We wouldn’t be here without him today with him, this man is an icon.”

But Paul’s comments may not go down well with the thousands of fans who were clearly unimpressed with what they witnessed inside the arena.

While Tyson was in no state to go for the KO as he merely endured the eight rounds, Paul had ample opportunities to knock down the former indisputed heavyweight champion.

Before the fight, Paul claimed he wanted to take the £31.7m ($40m) purse and “knock out a legend”. But even without the KO, both fighters will walk away substantially richer than when they walked into the ring, with Tyson earning a reported figure of £15.2million ($20m) just for participating.

Despite not claiming the coveted KO that would’ve given him some genuine clout in the boxing industry, Paul’s victory was the 11th out of 12 fights in his short career.

His only defeat thus far has come against against Tommy Fury, the younger brother of heavyweight star Tyson Fury, after their fight in 2023.