Jake Paul admits he didn't want to hurt Mike Tyson and and he missed out on securing the knockout he had promised.

kept up his impressive record beating via a unanimous points decision in Dallas. The as it meandered towards the bell.

Much was made of the age gap between the two men with Tyson more than 30 years older than Paul. He was also fighting in his first professional bout since 2005 and Paul admits, despite the war of words between the pair in the lead up, that he didn't want to knockout Tyson when he clocked he was simply holding on as his age began to tell.

He said: "I wanted to give the fans a show but I didn't want to hurt someone that didn't need to be hurt. There was a point where he (Tyson) was not engaging back, I could just tell his age was showing a little bit. That violence war thing... that went away as the rounds went on.

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FIGHT REACTION:

"People just love to hate me. I intentionally say things for people to hate. That's what I like to do. If people want to see more... give me a couple of months. I tried to give the best fight I possibly could. When someone's just surviving in the ring, it's hard to make it exciting. I don't care what people have to say. It is what it is."

Tony Bellew had been among those to consistently stand up for Tyson, claiming the fight, given the age differential, was a ridiculous concept. He did though acknowledge that Paul eased off in the final rounds so as not to KO the legend.

He said: "I don’t like this stupid idiot kid but I will say this.. He stopped beating on Mike there and showed him some respect and dignity by letting him survive! He didn’t go for the KO there he stepped off him and let him be.. Mike we all adore you king your a super hero to all of us from the proper fight business!"

Tyson's coach, Rafael Cordeiro, insisted in the post-fight media huddles that the Tyson team had gone into the fight believing that the old magic remained and that he could claim victory. He said: "We worked for seven months for this moment. I truly believed we had this victory before the fight.

"He never asked to give up. We are really proud of Mike, the way he trained for seven months, he put his life aside for training. He's the people's champ. He's inspired many people outside of the ring.

"The most important thing that Mike is going back home to his loved ones."