Jake Paul is not taking Mike Tyson lightly this Friday it would appear and has put in the work.
He knows Tyson despite the age still carries serious power and this is a heavyweight boxing professional bout at the end of the day.
Speaking ahead of the fight Tyson, their teams and Paul said on the Jake Paul YouTube channel:
“The thing that initially kicked this fight off was me taking a vision about two and a half years ago. I saw myself fighting Mike Tyson—it was definitely going to happen. I could feel it in my bones. I saw the TVs, I saw the next day how many millions of kids went to boxing gyms, and I saw that the next Mike Tyson was birthed out of this event—champion of the world in 2023.
That’s when Most Valuable Promotions, Nikisa, and I started talking to Netflix. They wanted to host their first-ever fight. The goal was to get a massive opponent, and eventually, it made sense.
Jake’s camp has been going absolutely amazing. We started with at least 2 to 3 weeks of aerobic training to transition into more hyper-focused anaerobic, explosive work—building those fast, powerful energy systems. We went even longer with a baseline phase, four weeks of groundwork. Then we started working on the two-minute rounds, with 30-second rests. Jake’s got more size now, but he still moves like he weighs 168 pounds. That’s a heavyweight nightmare. He’s carrying more weight than usual, but we’re getting him comfortable with it. We brought in a lot of big guys to spar with Jake to give him that heavyweight experience.
Sparring’s been great. Mikey, Mikey, you better watch out! Don’t charge at me, buddy—I’ve got dynamite in these fists. Jake’s dominated from day one with heavyweights. Not just random heavyweights, but guys ranked in the top 25, top 15 in the world. He’s been dominating them—putting together a game plan, using his speed, and his IQ is growing rapidly. We’re just making everything sink together.
Goddamn, I’m going to make history on Netflix, the biggest streaming platform in the world, in front of the whole world. Everyone’s doubting me, saying Mike looks like a beast, and he does. But I’m fueled by Celsius. I’m fueled by heart. Cheers to that—drink Celsius. I’m about to knock this boy out!
Mike Tyson is an icon. If you’ve ever been part of boxing, you want to be part of some of the biggest fights in history. For me, it was always Mike Tyson. He was coming up when I was a kid, and I thought, “I’ll either be with Mike or across the ring from him.” Well, now I’m across the ring from him, and I like it more. Mike Tyson is the greatest heavyweight of all time. I don’t think anybody can mess with him. Tyson’s bringing it. That’s something I’ve been seeing since I started watching him when I was about 15. Nothing’s changed. It’s the same Tyson. Mike is still Mike.
He definitely scares me because I know the mental places he’s gone to. I know he’s a killer, and I know how determined he is. When you’re dealing with a guy like Mike, he’s going to come at you from the bell. He’s not going to wait. He’s going to charge at you with everything he’s got. I think this is a very dangerous fight for Jake. I know how much this fight means to him. He sees it as the cherry on top of his career.
On my fight with Roy Jones, I let him have his shot, but I started strong and finished it the right way. It could end in the dopest way possible by taking out the most famous boxer of current times—someone who’s shaking up the sport. But can Jake take the punches? It’s one thing to hit someone, but it’s another thing for someone to hit you with real power. Can Jake deal with that for eight rounds? That’s the difference. Can he endure it?”
We are going to find that out soon enough.
Tyson will surely use educated aggression and pressure on Paul.
