Jake Paul has once again shocked the fighting world with the wild announcement he'll be boxing Mike Tyson on Netflix in a live event. The fight is set for July, and here we are in March with the two already trading jabs over the internet. After seeing them exchange some comments over social media, I can't help but wonder if Paul is making a huge mistake.
There are still quite a few months to go before we get to tune in live with our Netflix subscriptions and see Mike Tyson and Jake Paul throw down, but "The Problem Child" is already poking the bear and calling out Iron Mike on Instagram. The boxing legend gave a rather tame reply to Paul saying he's "put him to sleep," and Paul decided to double down and post another reply to Instagram Stories:
I get having confidence and bravado, but I think the younger fighter may not understand the full scope of what he's up against here. Sure, Mike Tyson is 57 years old, but he's also one of the most dominant and legendary names in the fighting industry period. In fifty-eight professional matches he only lost six of them, and he won forty-four by knockout. Readers in 2024 may remember the silly guy with a face tattoo in his celebrity cameo in The Hangover, but sports fans remember that "Iron Mike" was a killer in the ring.
One thing Paul might be banking on is that Tyson hasn't been in his prime for years, and he hasn't boxed in a match since 2020. At the same time, so much of professional fighting comes down to training and skill, and while he may not be at the top of his game, the knowledge is all still there. It's also worth noting that for a guy approaching sixty, he's in pretty damn good shape.
Perhaps the most important X factor in Tyson is that while his competitor could be underestimating him in trolling, it doesn't seem like the former is doing the same. Tyson called his son a fool for trying to fight Paul, and his thoughts on why boxers hate the Paul brothers show he's been following them for a while. This is just speculation on my end, of course, but I would think someone with a champion mindset wouldn't take this fight if he didn't think he had a good shot at winning.
Regardless of who comes out on top in July, I can't help but think the true winner here is the professional boxing industry. Logan and Jake Paul have both put the sport back on the map with these sideshow bouts, and made legends like Floyd Mayweather very wealthy in the process.
It's also a big coup for Netflix, as live streaming a pay-per-view caliber event is sure to reshape how the streaming industry thinks about live sports on major platforms, though Amazon's big moves acquiring sports streaming rights alongside the other big platforms shows they're already on the ball. I think we're really in for a historic event this summer and something that might really push the streaming world even further into sports.
The fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson is happening July 20th at AT&T Stadium, and of course, will be streamed over on Netflix. I'm sure we'll see a lot more antics ahead of the big fight, so I'm making sure my schedule is cleared that weekend and keeping an eye on both of their social media accounts.
