Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DAZN.com.
***
The boxing exploits of YouTube celebrity brothers Logan and Jake Paul continue to provoke and polarize the fight fan community, and the recent podcast comments of the older brother will be sure to irk many.
Logan Paul recently took part in an exhibition bout against retired 50-0 boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr., in which no winner was declared. Mayweather bragged before and afterward that the pay-per-view spectacle was “legalized bank robbery.”
The attention such bouts involving amateurs have garnered are rivaled only by the trend of retired fighters returning in their 50s for similar non-competitive outings, with Mike Tyson’s well-received bout with Roy Jones Jr. last year the best example.
The comparisons between those two non-championship realms led to Logan Paul to claim he could not only feasibly face Tyson next but that he could win.
He said on his show ‘Impaulsive‘: “Someone mentioned Mike Tyson. Like how funny is it? One great at a time. Or is it like you can only fight one? My lawyer mentioned it, and he was like: ‘No, Tyson will rip your head off. You don’t stand a chance.’
“I’m like, ‘Bro, I literally just went through all of this. You can’t tell me I can’t beat Mike Tyson.’ Bro, he’s old, old!”
Jake Paul, who is 3-0 in boxing with wins over three non-fighters in their respective pugilistic debuts (streamer KSI, former NBA player Nate Robinson and ex-UFC star Ben Askren) then reassured his sibling, “You did better than Conor McGregor against Floyd Mayweather.”
Jake Paul will be back in action in August when he faces another UFC name, Tyron Woodley. Unlike Askren, Woodley has respected striking skills, but it remains to be seen how that translates into a boxing ring with vastly different rules.
Both Logan Paul and Tyson are expected back for exhibitions, perhaps before the end of 2021, though there is no official confirmation of any formal negotiations. You can read DAZN’s interview with Triller founder Ryan Kavanaugh, in which he provides an update on the situation between Triller and Tyson.
[lawrence-related id=20942,20867,20844,19581,15863]