"He's helping everybody get money, why people mad at him?" - Mike Tyson bats for Jake Paul, says the YouTuber is skilled enough boxer to be his opponent
Jimmy Kimmel asked Mike Tyson on his show Jimmy Kimmel Live! if he was interested in fighting Jake Paul.
Tyson said that the bout would be "interesting." He believes that Paul has the skills to make the fight interesting enough for people to want to watch and for the fight to be competitive:
"He's skilled enough yes, I'm gonna give it to him, He's skilled enough because he's winning."
Tyson went on to say that despite Paul's lack of high-level opponents, they should have been good enough to beat the YouTuber.
"He's beating people he shouldn't really be beating, you've got to give him that credit."
Later on in the conversation, Mike Tyson defended Jake Paul and believes that people shouldn't be "hating" the novice boxer. One of the main reasons for this Tyson stated was the money and audience Paul brings to boxing:
"He's doing so much good for boxing. Listen, this guy has 70 million people following him everytime he fights. Champions of the world don't have that many people following them. So what he's doing for boxing is sensational, no one should be hating on that. They should be saying, yeah lets just fight him. He's helping everybody get money, why people mad at him?"
Watch the full interview below:
Tyson then joked that he might become the YouTube champion of boxing if he was to beat Jake Paul and then move onto other YouTubers. The former Heavyweight World Champion seemed keen to get the bout scheduled, but as of yet, nothing has been agreed between the two fighters.
Who was Mike Tyson's first boxing trainer?
Mike Tyson is known worldwide for his amazing defensive boxing ability and knockout power. However, many fans don't know that the legendary Cus D'Amato wasn't the first trainer to spot his talent. A man called Bobby Stewart spotted Tyson from an early age.
'Iron Mike' had a very difficult upbringing and is said to have been arrested 38 times by the age of 13. Stewart came to discover Tyson after the former champion ended up in Tryon School for Boys due to his behaviour.
Stewart was a former boxer and also a juvenile detention center counselor. The combination of both roles led him to see Tyson's natural gift for boxing.
Stewart trained Mike for a few months before handing him over to Cus D'Amato to further the young boxer's skillset. Tyson then went onto become one of the most iconic boxers in history and is rated as one of the greatest of all time.