KSI is not impressed by what Jake Paul is doing.
Earlier this month, it was announced that Paul will box former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson on July 20 at AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas, broadcast live on Netflix. The news that the 27-year-old Paul will fight the 57-year-old Tyson was not well-received by the combat sports world, and Paul’s longtime rival was right there with them.
“Honestly, I just think it’s sad, bro,” KSI said on the IMPAULSIVE podcast, hosted by KSI’s business partner Logan Paul, Jake Paul’s older brother. “I think it’s super sad. I don’t know why Jake took it. It’s a lose-lose. Literally, he knocks out Mike Tyson and he’s beaten what, and OAP? Old-Age-Person. … He’s 57. Mike Tyson is 57 years old. Yes, in his prime, this would have been crazy. But now it’s like, this is just sad.”
Tyson represents a bit of a return to form for Paul, who has drawn heavy criticism for facing past-their-prime MMA fighters for much of his boxing career. However, his past two fights have come against journeyman boxers, but they have also been smaller events than his previous bouts. Fighting Tyson will be anything but small.
“He’s going to have so many people watching,” KSI said. “Millions and millions. Everyone is going to know him as the guy who knocked out an old Mike Tyson.
“But imagine if he gets knocked out by Mike Tyson.”
Oddsmakers seem to think that’s an unlikely scenario though. Tyson, who has not boxed since an exhibition bout with Roy Jones Jr. in 2020 and has not done so professionally since 2005, is a heavy underdog to Paul. And that’s the issue for KSI — that this is all performative.
“I guess because legacy is my thing, I just feel like for Jake Paul, his legacy is going to be, ‘He can knock out old people,’” KSI said.
“What’s next though? Who is he going to fight next, Muhammad Ali?” he added later. “Is he going to dig him up?! [Laughs.]”
During the conversation, Logan Paul noted that he had also been approached to face Tyson in a boxing match, but that it wasn’t on Netflix and wasn’t for the same major payday Jake Paul stands to make, suggesting that the financial incentives make this an easy decision for his brother. But KSI disagreed.
“You know the funny thing is, Evander Holyfield followed me,” KSI said. “Messaged me, DMed me. I said, nah. I’m not doing that. I don’t want to be seen as the guy just doing — I feel like for me, it’s low-hanging fruit. I don’t want it, bro.”
Jake Paul and KSI have a long-standing beef centered around their roles in the boxing space. While Paul has courted acceptance from the traditional boxing scene, KSI has leaned all the way into influencer boxing, even starting his own Misfits Boxing promotion. Both men have talked about the possibility of fighting each other one day, with KSI openly campaigning for the bout over the past few years, but it still seems no closer to happening.
This story originally appeared on MMA fighting
