Social media star Jake Paul faces off against boxing legend Mike Tyson on July 20th in a highly anticipated bout.
This fascinating clash will take place at the massive 80,000-seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and will be streamed live on Netflix, marking a historic first for the platform.
But wait, there’s more! Former boxing champion Carl Froch has just revealed surprising details about the fight contract, which further escalates the hype surrounding the fight.
Tyson surprised fans with his chiseled midsection and impressive physical conditioning in a recent meet-and-greet in Virginia. The heavyweight legend has gone through a remarkable transformation since the Logan Paul fight announcement. Tyson has been regularly posting training clips on his social media profiles, indicating he will not go easy on the YouTuber-turned-boxer.
The 57-year-old will be lacing up for his first professional fight in 19 years. While Tyson did fight Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition fight four years ago, it was in a much more amicable setting. The decision to greenlight this contest as a professional fight has been met with heavy criticism by many boxing figures, with concerns swirling about the safety implications of such a matchup.
Bookmakers, however, have been quite excited about the fight ever since it was officially declared. Seasoned pros and curious rookies alike can head to boxing betting sites, where a range of different bookies are cooking up odds across several betting markets. Popular markets include whether the clash will go the distance and who will score a knockdown.
But there’s one recent development that could well have significant sway in the way sportsbooks are viewing this fight.
Tyson suffered a health emergency on a recent flight from Miami to Los Angeles. The pilot had to do an emergency landing to let the paramedics board the plane. Initially, it was feared that the fight would be called off. However, it has now been confirmed that Tyson is physically fine and the fight will go on as planned.
Fixing allegations swirled around the fight from the announcement, further fueled by the decision to proceed despite Tyson’s in-flight health scare. Carl Froch has now added fuel to the fire claiming he has heard Tyson has been discouraged from knocking out Paul in the fight.
“From what I’m hearing with the contracts, allegedly, he gets paid less if he wins in round one,” the former super-middleweight world champion said.
“Or if he gets a knockout he gets paid even less. There’s restrictions in his contract based on how he wins. I don’t know if it’s been confirmed, but I’ve read somewhere that there’s a clause in his contract that means he’s going to earn less money if he goes out there and destroys Jake Paul.”
Facing mounting skepticism, Paul vehemently denied rumors of a fixed fight with Tyson.
“People are doubting me. I go onto the Instagram comments, and I see them all saying that if Jake Paul wins this fight, it’s rigged because of how incredible he looks… Age doesn’t matter…He’s been doing this his entire life…I’ve been doing this for four years and I’ve been doing it at a super high level, but on July 20th I’m going to prove that I can outbox Mike Tyson and prove everyone wrong.”
Turki Alalshikh, the head of Saudi Arabian boxing, sent social media into a frenzy with a post-press conference tweet directed at Mike Tyson. His message, “Please brother Mike, forget the script and beat this guy,” while seemingly supportive, raised eyebrows due to the ongoing rumors of fight manipulation.
Mike Tyson also pushed back on claims that his upcoming face-off with Logan Paul is going to be rigged.
“This fight isn’t scripted as some haters in the boxing community want you to believe. This is a sanctioned fight and I’m knocking Jake out,’’ Tyson wrote across his social media profiles to debunk the fixing allegations.
Paul shared Tyson’s tweet on his official X account and replied “I love you Mike. But you are the one getting knocked out. And (expletive) the haters saying it’s scripted.”
Tyson’s social media posts sparked a flurry of comments casting doubt on the legitimacy of the upcoming heavyweight clash with Jake Paul.
One user blasted the event as a “rigged contest money grab,” calling it “fake ass dance in the ring not a fight!!!” Another chimed in with suspicion, suggesting the bout is “all for money” and predicting a pre-arranged Tyson loss.
Teddy Atlas, who was previously a part of Tyson’s training crew during his teenage years, also shared his thoughts about the controversy.
“If there’s legitimacy to the effort, if there’s legitimacy to the event, if the purpose of it is other than just making money, there’s a chance (Tyson) can catch Paul and hurt him,” he told USA Today.
Is this Tyson vs Paul the real deal? We’ll find out on July 20th.