Jake Paul has caused controversy ahead of his fight with Mike Tyson by sharing footage from his training camp, showing the boxer knocking a sparring opponent to the canvas.
Mike Tyson has called out Jake Paul over a social media clip from sparring.
Mike Tyson believes Jake Paul faked knocking out an opponent in a sparring session during his training camp for their upcoming fight.
Paul shared footage on Instagram showing him knocking down a sparring partner before shouting into a camera; “Don’t charge at me, Tyson!” His iconic opponent is one of many who reckon the fighter he was working with hits the canvas rather quickly.
Tyson has appeared on the weekly YouTube show Pound 4 Pound – alongside co-hosts Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo. During the almost hour-long episode, he addressed the video Paul posted, but neither of the UFC fighters had seen the clip in question.
“You seen his sparring session where the guy faked being knocked out? That was beautiful.“It was a chubby guy. He took a fall, he took a dive!”
Paul’s fellow YouTuber-turned-boxer – KSI – has also called out the former’s training camp. “I’ve seen parts of his training footage,” KSI said.
“God, he just looks awful, man. He just looks so slow, so sluggish. This isn’t his natural weight [but] it is what it is.”
Despite the criticism, KSI still believes that Paul will ‘destroy’ Tyson owing to the age gap. “When he [Tyson] gets obliterated, people on Twitter (now X) will be like; ‘How did we let this happen? Oh no, this is so bad!’
“I’m going to be like; ‘Well, I f*****g told you.”
However, in his chat with radio station talkSPORT, Tyson explained the reason for returning. “[I’m] 58. I’m going to fight in the biggest arena ever, and it’s going to be sold out. Who else can do that?
On fighting with 80,000 fans watching in the stadium, Tyson said: “It makes me feel like I have to perform. They’re giving me all that inspiration and letting me know that; ‘Boy, you’ve got to perform tonight’… It’s time to perform.”