The controversy surrounding Jake Paul’s clash with ageing legend Mike Tyson is back in full swing following the recent presser for the rescheduled event. As before, four-time super-middleweight champion has shared his disgust at the event, this time labelling the contest as a ‘disgrace’ and questioning the legitimacy of the fight.
Paul and Tyson were expected to collide last month in a highly-criticized affair, mainly due to their significant age gap and Tyson’s almost two decade spell of inactivity, and hopes that the contest would be an exhibition being smashed when ‘Iron’ Mike opted for an official, professional meeting, that will go on each of their records.
However, Tyson was forced to withdraw from the event due to stomach ulcers, only to be replaced by bareknuckle boxer Mike Perry – who was stopped in the sixth-round by Paul.
Tyson’s health issues have only added to concerns after his fight with ‘The Problem Child’ was re-organized and speaking on his YouTube channel, Carl Froch declared that Paul should not be calling himself a professional boxer whilst labelling the event as a ‘disgrace’.
“This idiot ‘Fake Paul’ is pretending to be a boxer, but let’s be honest, he has only ever had one professional boxing match, if you can call it that, and that was against a novice pro in Tommy Fury and he got beat. He got beat quite easily as well, some say that it was close but at the end of the day, he struggled badly against Tommy Fury and he got beat – that is what is on the paperwork, that is what you have got to look at.”
“He is at the low level, he can’t call himself a professional boxer, which he continues to try and do. I don’t get wound up about it, I know what he is doing, he is in the business of making money and he knows how to make money, fair play to him. Is he taking himself seriously as professional boxer? Unfortunately, I think that he is, and I think that it is a f***ing disgrace because he is jumping in with a 58-year-old Mike Tyson when he is only 26-years-old himself.”
Fan-favourite Froch went on to question the legitimacy of the scrap after witnessing this week’s press conference and added his belief that it is a ‘shame’ to see a heavyweight icon such as Tyson being forced into fights at this age, if he is only facing Paul for the money.
“Let’s be honest, Mike Tyson I think is just going to be playing his role. In my opinion, Mike Tyson has probably got the script. When I saw that press conference the other day, there was a little light-hearted shove by Mike Tyson, there was nothing in it. Jake Paul didn’t know what to do, he was stern looking and not really saying much, I don’t think that he said anything. It all looked really contrived, really fake.”
“This is a guy in Mike Tyson who has made hundreds of millions of dollars during his career and it was thoroughly deserved as well. Everybody wanted to see him fight. I think that this is a real shame if he is doing this just for the money, if he needs it.”
Paul-Tyson will take place at the AT&T Arena in Arlington, Texas on November 15th and will be available to watch live on Netflix, following the culmination of the co-main event – which seems far more palatable to the boxing purist that Paul and Tyson’s encounter.
Boxing Social is now on WhatsApp! Join our channel by clicking here and getting all the latest boxing news direct to your phone.