Mike Tyson is making a strong comeback after health issues, causing frustration for Jake Paul, who will now face Mike Perry on July 20 before their rescheduled fight on November 15, despite concerns about Tyson’s age and health.
Mike Tyson is reportedly doing well on his comeback trail. And Jake Paul? Not happy about it.
“He’s doing great — and Jake is pissed,” Paul’s advisor and promotional partner Nakisa Bidarian said on The MMA Hour. “He sees Mike in Europe, living life, doing appearances, celebrating his birthday, and he’s like, ‘What? I thought he was injured. Like, what’s going on?’”
“I talked to Team Tyson yesterday,” Bidarian continued. “They said he’s back, not doing boxing training but focusing on strength and conditioning. Feels great. So everything looks to be on track.”
But first things first: they’ve got to get through Saturday, July 20.
Tyson withdrew from his scheduled big-money boxing match against Paul in May after suffering health complications related to an ulcer flare-up.
In Tyson’s stead, Paul is now set to face UFC veteran and BKFC star Mike Perry in a July 20 boxing match at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.
Paul vs. Tyson remains on the menu though. The bout between the 27-year-old social media star and the 57-year-old former heavyweight champ has been rescheduled for November 15 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex.
Critics argue that Tyson’s health issues make the fight irresponsible and dangerous.
Bidarian sees the whole debate over Tyson’s health and age as much ado about nothing.
“Anyone can get an ulcer, right?” Bidarian pointed out. “And injuries happen. Look at Conor McGregor — 36 years old, rehabbing for three years.”
“Mike Tyson and Jake Paul makes sense because of the age,” he added. “If Mike was in his early 30s given Jake’s experience, there’d be no sense to that fight.”
Age is the equalizing factor here.
“When you look at Mike Tyson at age 27,” Bidarian explained, “he was 40-1. Jake Paul is 27; he’s 9-1.”
“Jake Paul has been a professional for four years,” he continued. “Mike Tyson at that point was a professional for I think 14 years.”
“What makes this fight exciting is there is a chance either guy can lose,” Bidarian emphasized.
“If you look at polls we’ve done,” he noted, “everyone thinks Mike Tyson will knock out Jake Paul.”
“So as long as Tyson has a clean bill of health,” Bidarian concluded confidently, “which we plan to ensure by November 15th — then of course that fight should happen.”
“We went through the process of his full medicals,” Bidarian later added. “Making sure his doctors gave him clearances and working with the commission too.”
“We felt comfortable with eight rounds of two minutes each.”
Those two minutes are really to give Mike the chance to be as powerful as possible because power doesn’t go away with age—stamina does.
In many ways, this puts even more pressure on Paul to handle business against Perry on July 20th.
Paul vs. Tyson represents Netflix’s inaugural entry into live combat sports too!
“We want long-term business together,” Bidarian said about Netflix.
“But obviously if I’m Netflix," he mused aloud,"I would say let me do this first one see how it performs then go from there.”