Ahead of his fight on July 20th at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Jake Paul cracked a joke on Instagram about Mike Tyson's sacrifice.
Alongside a photo of Paul and Tyson shaking hands after officially signing a contract for an upcoming boxing match, Paul captioned it, “Mike Tyson with the greatest heavyweight boxer on the planet.”
The fight, which will be streamed live on Netflix, pits Tyson, one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, against Paul, one of the sport's fastest rising stars.
Tyson is a former world heavyweight champion with a career record of 50 wins, 6 losses, and 44 knockouts, with two no contests.
However, Tyson is now 57 years old and hasn't fought in a non-exhibition bout since 2005. Tyson's most recent fight of any kind was an exhibition against fellow boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. in 2020, and Iron Mike looked in great shape. his age.
Paul initially rose to fame as a YouTuber and actor, but has been making waves in the boxing world in recent years.
The 27-year-old made his professional boxing debut in 2020 and has since gone 9-1 with six knockouts.
Most of Paul's wins have come against MMA stars like Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva and Nate Diaz, but he recently changed his strategy.
His last two fights were against lesser-known boxers Andre August and Ryan Borland, and Paul won both bouts by first-round knockout.
Paul's only loss to date was a split decision to Tommy Fury, the brother of world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and a legitimate boxer.
While Paul has undoubtedly been impressive during his young boxing career, there is a belief among fans and analysts that he has not truly proven himself based on his level of competition.
Tyson would be his most skilled opponent to date, but considering the age difference between the two, it's hard to say how great it would be for Paul to beat a man 30 years his senior.
