Mike Tyson’s son wants in on the fight game. More specifically, he wants to fight Jake Paul. Some fathers might enjoy watching their sons follow in their footsteps, but let the record show, the former Heavyweight Champion Of The World is not one of those dads. He wants no part of his son Amir boxing and in fact, has some advice for what he should do instead.
Mike Tyson explained his feelings on his Hotboxin’ podcast earlier this week. Olympic gold medalist and former UFC champ Henry Cejudo asked him if his children were into boxing or if they ever pushed to participate. Iron Mike said his son Amir really wants to fight Jake Paul but he’s tried to push him in another direction. Here’s a portion of his quote…
I have my kid, the oldest one, he’s 24. He wants to do this so bad. I said ‘Man, just chill the fuck out.’ He wants to fight Logan Paul and those guys. He wants to do that. I said, ‘Man, just got a job. Get a real estate license. Just chill out man. Why can’t you take advantage of your lightweight wealthiness? Just chill. You don’t want none of that heat. I’m telling you. This drives people to commit suicide, getting humiliated in front of millions of people. You gotta be able to take that pressure and heat. Not many people can do it. It seems like a lot of people, but the people doing it is such a small percent. It’s probably one percent.’
It’s easy to see why Mike Tyson is so opposed to his son Amir Tyson boxing. While the sport brought him glory, financial rewards and long-term cultural relevance, it also took a toll on his body and created a media spotlight that got ridiculously over the top and intense during the peak of his fame. Then again, it’s also easy to see why his son would look at all the positives the life has brought and want some of that for himself. A lot of kids follow in their parents’ footsteps for a variety of reasons.
That being said, even if Mike Tyson wanted this fight with Jake Paul to happen, it’s almost certainly not going to happen. The reality star turned successful boxer has his sights set on Conor McGregor (at least after his upcoming bout with Tyron Woodley). If that doesn’t happen, either because of McGregor’s injury or because he’s just not interested, Paul will definitely look for a bigger name that can help him sell pay per views or at least a fighter with more experience who can help add more credibility to his resume so he can set up a fight with a bigger name down the road.
Jake Paul’s emergence as a major name in boxing has been a bit divisive to say the least in the fight community, both because of his behavior and because of how quickly he has emerged as a major draw. Mike Tyson, however, has been pretty vocal with his support. He had the social media star fight on the undercard of his most recent exhibition match, which really helped Paul attract the attention of a wider audience outside his fans.
