‘Iron’ Mike Tyson is one of the greatest and most notable personalities in combat sports history. After achieving almost everything in the squared circle and saying goodbye to the boxing community in 2005, Tyson returned to the spotlight in 2020 to face Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition bout. Despite being a Tyson fight, there were no crazy knockouts or ears injuries. The fight ended in a stale draw. Tyson looked and felt good in the ring and afterwards kept the door open for a boxing return
In 2021, Tyson was rumored to have agreed to a rematch against 56-year-old Lennox Lewis and a trilogy against Evander Holyfield was discussed. However both fell through and Tyson became doubtful of his return.
In January, there were rumors of Tyson returning to action against Youtube sensation turned boxer Jake Paul. Jake Paul KO’d celebrity turned boxer Nate Robinson on the undercard of Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr. Paul made friends with Tyson in the process.
Jake Paul has boxed grizzled MMA veterans Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley and surprisingly KO’ed them.
In January of this year, it was reported that Jake and Tyson were in ‘advanced talks’ for a boxing bout. Yet Tyson has claimed that he is not aware of such a deal. He claimed he would be willing to fight Jake Paul for a whopping price of ‘1 Billion Dollars’.
“Nobody told me that,” Tyson said on his ‘Hotboxin with Mike Tyson’ podcast when he was asked about fighting Jake Paul.
“Hey, I ain’t got no f****** money. So where’s the f****** contract?”
“I ain’t know nothing about it. Listen, I’ve been smoking with him forever, I did some shrooms with him as well. But I’ve never heard this.”
“I was with him in St Barts not too long ago partying and he never told me this.”
“I’ve never heard this from nobody, I’ve just heard this from you guys.”
“We got to get some more man s***, blue-eyed, blonde hair, that s*** is very expensive, we need to get some more money, man.”
When asked how much money is convincing enough to fight Paul, Tyson replied with an unrealistic number saying “a billion bucks”.
Despite stating on many occasions that ‘he needs money’, Tyson’s purse demands suggest he doesn’t seem to be taking this Jake Paul negotiation seriously.