The hype train around Jake “The Problem Child” Paul has restarted now that he announced that his next boxing match is against UFC middleweight legend Anderson “The Spider” Silva. However, one boxing legend was not interested even when Paul was right in front of his face: none other than “Iron” Mike Tyson.
Paul was working out in Los Angeles at the Wild Card Boxing Gym, owned by well-known trainer Freddie Roach, and Tyson was also in the room. However, Tyson must have been unimpressed because he wanted to pivot to another activity with Roach, and fast.
“He saw 30 seconds of him sparring and said, ‘Freddie, can we go down and see the pictures?’” said Roach to FightHype. “He knows that’s where the good pictures are. He wasn’t as interested as I was.”
Roach has trained everybody from Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Oscar de la Hoya, and Mike Tyson. The pictures Tyson referenced were probably of the moments in his career when the two worked together. It will be the biggest test of his career with Paul scheduled to face Silva on Oct. 29 in Phoenix, Arizona.
However, Roach was not impressed.
“The kid’s OK, a club fighter,” Roach continued. “I don’t know him personally, and I’ve never really met him. He was in my gym and wondered if they could use the ring and I said go ahead.”
Paul campaigned for a fight against Tyson and leaned into the rumors that the two were figuring out a potential deal for a fight. However, once the rumors got to a fever pitch, Tyson addressed the rumors on an episode of his popular “HOTBOXIN” podcast.
He revealed that a fight with Jake Paul isn’t out of the question, but it better be highly lucrative.
‘I Don’t Know…A Billion Bucks’ | Mike Tyson Says What It Will Take To Make A Jake Paul Fight
“Ain’t nobody told me that. Hey, I don’t have no f–king money, where’s the f–king contract?” Tyson said. Tyson rebuffed the notion when asked if he would fight Paul for $49 million.
“We got to get some more man s–t, blue-eyed, blond hair, that s–t is very expensive, man, we got to get some more money, man; I don’t know, a billion bucks,” Tyson said.
Tyson has been traveling promoting his cannabis endeavors and was recently seen smoking with wrestling legend Ric Flair outside of a cannabis convention. While living his best weed boss life, Paul is focused on changing the game for non-traditional boxing personalities.
The fight between Paul and Silva is a compelling contest between a flashy, hard-punching newcomer in Paul (5-0, 4 KOs) against combat sports royalty in Silva, who is now embarking on an intriguing second phase in his career as a boxer.
Mike Tyson and Ric Flair smoking on that gas ⛽️💨🤣 pic.twitter.com/1bMZhWcmml
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) September 14, 2022
Paul and Silva held a press conference in Los Angeles recently where Paul discussed the opportunity and how he gets ready for a combat sports legend like Anderson Silva.
“I don’t think a writer could have come up with this storyline the way everything’s unfolded. So, I’ve just had to sort of pinch myself and it still really hasn’t sunk in to be quite honest. But I’m sure it will. At the end of the day, you know that this is what I’m good at. And come fight week, I’ll be ready to do what I do best: Fight!
“All of my fights pretty much have been against MMA guys, so I’m sort of used to that differentiated style and different combinations and bigger punches and the unorthodox style. So, I’ve always been training for that.”
While Jake Paul gets ready for his next challenge, one combat sports legend will be busy doing other things, and that’s Mike Tyson.
