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Jake Paul has found another boxing opponent, and he’s over twice his age. But it’s not any 57-year-old - it’s one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, Mike Tyson. It was announced Thursday that The Problem Child, Jake “El Gallo” Paul (9-1, 6 KOs), and the Baddest Man on the Planet, Mike Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) will be stepping into the same ring on Saturday, July 20, 2024, from the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and it will be streamed live on Netflix.
Tyson retired in 2005 but did an exhibition fight in 2006 against former professional boxer and his sparring partner Corey Sanders. It was supposed to be one of four world tours billed as “Mike Tyson’s World Tour” in a bid to overcome some financial debt, but it’s the only one that took place.
In 2020, Tyson returned to the ring when he was 54 in an exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr. It was scored as a controversial split draw, selling over 1.6 million PPV buys and generating over $80 million in revenue, per USA Today. On that undercard was Jake, who went viral for knocking out former NBA player Nate Robinson.
Tyson said in a press release he plans to “finish” Jake. “It’s a full circle moment that will be beyond thrilling to watch; as I started him off on his boxing journey on the undercard of my fight with Roy Jones and now I plan to finish him,” he said.
Jake wrote on X, that he plans to knock out the World Heavyweight Champion. “My sights are set on becoming a world champion, and now I have a chance to prove myself against the greatest heavyweight champion of the world, the baddest man on the planet and the most dangerous boxer of all time. Time to put Iron Mike to sleep,” he wrote.
In a separate tweet, Jake wrote, “I idolized Mike Tyson until the first time I met him 4 years ago…he called me Logan. Going to make sure he knows who I am real close and personal.” Logan, is his older brother.
The YouTuber has gotten a lot of heat in the past for who he steps in the ring with, and Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson is no different. He’s been getting roasted across social media platforms. “Jake Paul claiming to be a boxer while preying on retired combat sports athletes who have sustained a career’s worth of injuries is one of the most utterly pathetic displays of cowardice I have ever seen in my entire life,” one user wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
There’s also been speculation on whether the fight is fake. “Jake Paul’s a good boxer and Mike’s obviously not in his prime anymore, but if Mike loses or this is a tie then we absolutely know for sure that this is faked, or at least staged,” another person wrote on X.