57-year-old wants to show the world that he is still a great fighter
\nNEW YORK:
\nFormer heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, preparing for his first professional fight since 2005, warned YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on Monday that his life will be on the line during their July 20 bout.
\nThe 57-year-old Tyson, speaking at New York City\u2019s Apollo Theater during a press conference to promote a fight against an opponent who is 30 years his junior, said he wants to show the world he is still a great fighter.
\n\u201cI really like Jake a lot but once he\u2019s in that ring he has to fight like his life depends on it, because it will be,\u201d said Tyson.
\nThe heavyweight bout at the Arlington, Texas home of the NFL\u2019s Dallas Cowboys will be contested over eight two-minute rounds with each fighter using 14-ounce gloves. The outcome will be included in both fighters\u2019 professional boxing records.
\nTyson, who said he requested the shorter rounds because he feels it will lead to greater action and a more entertaining fight, shot back at critics who suggested he is making a big mistake by returning to boxing. \u201cThe people who said that wish they were up here,\u201d said Tyson.
\n\u201cBecause no one else can do it. Who else can do this? Who else can shut the sporting world down, no one else can do it. So you got the both of us. \u201cWe\u2019re friends, but in that ring we\u2019re not going to be friends.\u201d Tyson also said he did not hesitate at the chance to fight Paul. \u201cIt was a no-brainer,\u201d said Tyson. \u201cHe was the new up and coming guy on the scene and I like shaking the sports world to it\u2019s core and I\u2019m doing it now. It\u2019s just something I want to do.\u201d
\nPaul, a 27-year-old YouTube influencer-turned-boxer, has won nine of 10 boxing matches with six knockouts against a mix of celebrities and middling fighters. He suffered his sole career boxing loss in February 2023 when he lost a split decision to Tommy Fury, the half brother of World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. Paul said people should not overlook Tyson. \u201cAge doesn\u2019t matter, age is just a number. He\u2019s a killer, he\u2019s a warrior, he\u2019s been doing this his whole entire life. So it\u2019s second nature to him. I\u2019ve been doing this for four years,\u201d Paul said.
\nPaul suggested he is being underestimated by Tyson and boasted that he has more power than the man once considered one of the most feared men in the world. \u201cI know it\u2019s going to be tough, I know I\u2019m going to have to fight through adversity, I know I might even go to the canvas,\u201d said Paul. \u201cI\u2019m scared, don\u2019t get me wrong, but it\u2019s not about the fear stopping me, it\u2019s about going into it even though I am scared and that\u2019s what true bravery is.\u201d
\nTyson and Paul will participate in another press conference on Thursday in Arlington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
57-year-old wants to show the world that he is still a great fighter NEW YORK: Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, preparing for his first professional fight since 2005, warned YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on Monday that his life will be on the line during their July 20 bout. The 57-year-old Tyson, speaking at New York City\u2019s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":64789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64794,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64774\/revisions\/64794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}