With the highly anticipated boxing match between the controversial YouTube star Jake Paul and the devastatingly powerful Mike Tyson edges closer, media for the fight is beginning to get underway.
Taking a complete U-turn from the opponents he’s used to facing inside the ring, Jake Paul opted to face the much older, but still extremely dangerous, Mike Tyson. ‘The Problem Child’ has won 9 of his 10 fights since turning professional and continues to shine a spotlight on the sport for new viewers.
While appearing on Fox News, Mike Tyson discussed the intensity of his training and believes he’ll have the speed advantage against his 27-year-old opponent.
“I don’t think he’s faster than me,” Tyson said referring to Jake Paul. “I train every day. I take it serious.”
“It’s the process of going through the whole day. I get up in the morning and do the road work. Then I go to the gym at 1, then I go to the strength and conditioning guy, then it starts all over again.”
Tyson then shared a moment to praise Jake for his journey from comedy influencer to professional boxer.
“He’s come a long way from YouTube-ing. Listen, I’ve seen a YouTube of him at 16 doing weird dances, that’s not the guy I’m going to be fighting.”
“This guy is going to come, he’s going to try and hurt me, which I’m accustomed to. And he’s going to be greatly mistaken.”
Despite the rumors of 18oz gloves and headgear, Mike Tyson has insisted that this will be treated as a real fight.
“[The rumors are] not true. Listen, this is called an exhibition but if you look up exhibition, you will not see any of the laws that we’re fighting under. This is a fight.”
At almost 58 years old, the legendary boxer explained why he is returning to the ring and is welcoming the challenge against Jake Paul.
“Whatever I’m afraid to do, I do it. And that’s how it is. I was afraid for the Roy [Jones Jr.] fight. I was scared to fight again, I was 100lbs overweight. I was however old, 54 [or] 53, and I said, ‘Let’s do it’.”
“Anything I’m afraid of, I confront it and that’s my personality. Like, right now, I’m scared to death. But as the fight gets closer, the less nervous I become because it’s reality, and in reality, I’m invincible.”
Related: Mike Tyson believes he’s bigger draw at age 58 ahead of Jake Paul fight
“I always believed that adversity or nervousness, it pretty much catapulted me into success. If I didn’t have these feelings, I wouldn’t go into this fight. I have to have these feelings to fight, without them, I would never go in the ring.”
Though he seems the most riled up he has been in years with nothing but a vicious display on his mind, Mike Tyson has no hard feelings when it comes to Jake Paul.
“I will do just that [teach him a lesson], but dislike him? No, I don’t. I do not have [any] grudges against him. He’s beautiful and no, it’s not from that perspective.”
“This is from my point of view of grabbing glory, you know? Never for money, only glory. I would never risk my health for money.”
Watch Mike Tyson’s Fox News interview below.
https://www.mmaweekly.com/news/mike-tyson-refuses-to-fight-jake-paul-under-usual-exhibition-rules-this-is-a-fight
