Jake Paul is taking his training seriously as he prepares to box against Mike Tyson.
The influencer-turned-pro fighter is set to take on the former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in an eight-round fight that will be broadcast live on Netflix from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on July 20.
"I’m just humbled and honored and grateful for this opportunity and thankful for Mike -- it just shows that hard work pays off," Paul told ET on Friday ahead of the pair's press conference for the upcoming match.
Paul has been hard at work in "training camp" preparing his body and mind to take on the legendary fighter, supplementing two-a-day workouts with ice baths, stretching and conditioning, and healthy meals from his private chef to help put on weight.
Tyson is more than twice Paul's age -- 58 to his 27 -- however, what may be a more glaring difference between the two is in their experience. Over the course of his professional fighting career, Tyson went 50–6–0–2, with 44 KOs. So far, Paul has competed in 10 professional fights, though he has gone 9-1, with six KOs.
Mike Tyson and Jake Paul come face-to-face ahead of their boxing match.
"I think the age is a double-edged sword because, on one side, I could be younger and maybe faster but he's older -- [he] has that old man strength and has the experience of fighting since he was like six or seven years old," Paul admitted. "He has way more time and experience in the ring... I think what’s great about this fight is just overall when you go stat for stat, the matchup is very, very even."
"He’s the bull, I’m the matador, and it’s that simple," he added. "Speed and timing beats power... There's an art to boxing and although he's been doing it his whole life, it doesn’t matter how long you've been doing something if you haven’t been doing it the right way and I believe my coaches are the best in the world."
Paul has been taking boxing seriously since around 2018, when he and brother Logan fought against YouTuber Deji Olatunji and his older brother, KSI. He made his professional debut in April 2021 and also joined the Professional Fighters League in January 2023 in anticipation of making his MMA debut.
His interest in fighting Tyson, however, came from a more unexpected inspiration.
"This actually all started when I was doing ayahuasca like, two years ago, and I saw this vision of Mike Tyson and I fighting," he recalled. "It was so surreal, so visceral, and I got to see the butterfly effect of how that changed the sport of boxing forever. How many kids went to boxing gyms the next day and how many people’s lives were changed because of that."
"I saw that the next Mike Tyson came from being a fan and watching this fight," he continued, describing his psychoactive-induced vision. "I believe that everyone should box and I think it's the greatest sport in the world... The exposure and viewership for the sport is just phenomenal and shows kids that if they start something, four years later they can reach the highest level of it -- even after everyone said you couldn't. That’s exactly what I’ve done."
Jake Paul addresses reporters prior to his boxing match against Mike Tyson.
While they exchanged some works during the press conference, Paul said he didn't have any sort of message or warning that he wanted to send to Tyson ahead of their showdown.
"I think he knows how hard I work -- I think he knows that I'm not scared of him and his antics," he said. "I think he knows I'm a great fighter, he's not dumb, and that’s why you see him training as hard as he is... He wants to end my career so he knows I’m gonna bring it too."
"I’m very confident in myself and I'm gonna win in devastating fashion," he added.
And to celebrate afterwards? "I'm basically gonna go to Paris and support Team USA at the Olympics."
"I think the coolest thing about this is, I've been working for 15 years for my moment and I finally feel like this is my moment," Paul shared. "All that hustle, every single day, even through the ups and downs the failures when I wanted to quit and stop doing all of this, I just kept going knowing that one day the world would see who I was. I think that’s finally happening and this is my moment."
As for Tyson, when he spoke with ET, he was more direct about what to expect: "Carnage. Really bad stuff."
"I gave him his warning: Fight like your life depends on it because it does," Tyson added." [But] I'm not concerned about anything. If I was concerned, I wouldn't be here talking to you."
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