Jake Paul reportedly has a former boxing world champion lined up as a replacement for Mike Tyson if the 58-year-old can’t make the rearranged fight date in November.
When it was announced that Jake Paul and Mike Tyson would, finally, be squaring off inside the boxing ring, plenty of fans and pundits were quick to criticize the fight. The overwhelming critique came because of the massive gap in age between the pair and also that Jake would have to gain weight for a heavyweight clash.
The fight, which was supposed to happen on July 20, has since been rescheduled for late November after ‘Iron’ Mike suffered an ulcer flare during a flight to Miami.
However, if the heavyweight boxing icon can’t make that re-arranged date, Jake purportedly has a backup fighter – Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
That’s right, according to World Boxing News, Jake is eyeing up the former WBC Middleweight champion as a replacement for Tyson, if he can’t step into the ring in November.
As WBN points out, the 38-year-old Mexican fighter had been lined up to fight on the undercard for the original date with Tyson and is taking on Uriah Hall on the undercard of Jake’s fight with Mike Perry.
On top of that, Cesar Chavez Jr. has a history with a fighter that Jake is desperate to tear it up – Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
The YouTuber-turned-boxer is still targeting a fight with the Mexican superstar, according to Nakisa Bidarian – Jake’s longtime business partner.
“Canelo is definitely someone that he wants to fight. I think if Jake knockouts Mike Tyson, it’s doable,” he told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour on July 3.
As per Bidarian, the angle would likely be that Canelo would want to defend boxing from someone like Jake. Though, who knows if it’d be the world title fight the YouTuber is looking for.