Mike Tyson is convinced that Jake Paul is going to “run like a thief” in their highly-anticipated showdown on November 15, but wants his opponent to trade punches, because he’d rather die in the ring than a hospital.
Influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul is set to step into the ring with Mike Tyson next month and the bout has been the talk of the combat sports world for months.
On October 24, Netflix released a trailer for its behind-the-scenes documentary series leading up to the bout and Tyson made a powerful admission in the footage.
“This is really big for me If I win, I’ll be immortal,” the 58-year-old said. “If I do it bad, I don’t want to die in a hospital bed, I want to die in the ring.”
That same day, ‘Iron Mike’ appeared on Fox 4 Dallas where he expressed concern that Jake Paul would “run like a thief” but would be able to put the boxing upstart down quickly as soon as he catches him.
“I don’t see how he’s gonna make it an exciting fight by running all day,” Tyson warned. “He’s supposed to be the young guy, he’s supposed to go right through me. I’m supposed to be the old man.”
Tyson further invited Paul to go toe-to-toe with him and trade punches, adding that due to the age gap, he shouldn’t have any issue handling his punches.
According to Tyson, he intends to hurt Paul, adding that fight fans “won’t believe the spectacle that’s going to happen, as far as pain’s considered.”
For his part, ‘Iron Mike’ has remained adamant that he’s not afraid of taking Paul’s best shots and shrugged off warnings from Jake’s brother Logan about his dangerous the match will be for him.
The long-awaited boxing clash is set to air live on Netflix on November 15.