Jake Paul has been told by one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time that there may be no way to victory against Mike Tyson.
The YouTube star-turned-boxer was set to face Tyson on July 20 at the AT&T Stadium in Texas. But they were forced to reschedule the bout to November 15 when a medical emergency caused doctors to advise the former world heavyweight champion against training for a number of weeks.
Paul is a fairly substantial favourite with many bookmakers due to the age factor; he is 27 while his rival will turn 58 before fight night. But former two-weight UFC champion and PFL ambassador Randy Couture believes he has next to no chance in a fully professional bout against Tyson.
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Randy Couture backs Mike Tyson to beat Jake Paul in heavyweight boxing clash
Former UFC light-heavyweight and heavyweight champion Couture believes that the only way Paul can be saved from a big defeat is if there are stipulations around the bout. However, it is a fully sanctioned fight in the state of Texas so shenanigans are unlikely.
“Everything I’ve seen, I don’t see any way that Jake Paul stands up to Mike Tyson,” Couture told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat ahead of the PFL’s regular season shows in Salt Lake City and Sioux Falls over the next two weeks.
“Then there comes the rumours of special considerations and stipulations on how they fight and I don’t think that’s fair. If you’re going to do it, just do it. You picked one hell of a fighter, previously you’ve picked grapplers, guys in MMA that have strong wrestling backgrounds or grappling.
“Now I say that and he did beat Anderson Silva. But the first time he fought a real boxer was Tyson Fury’s brother [Tommy Fury] and that didn’t go very well. It was a good fight, an entertaining, good fight but it didn’t go his way. That’s not the end of the world, he’s at least getting in there and fighting real guys.”
Randy Couture believes Mike Tyson will ‘walk through’ Jake Paul in a few rounds
There are a number of people who believe that Paul will be able to stop Tyson due to his advanced age. Particularly given that the YouTube star is an active fighter who has stopped six of his nine professional wins.
But Couture reckons that Tyson’s elite level boxing skills, even almost 20 years after his last full professional bout, will be enough to get the win. “Now, he’s arguably picked one of the best to ever do it,” Couture continued.
“And on paper, how many guys in the boxing world have 50 victories and 44 of those are knockouts? I mean, it’s insane. So on paper, Tyson should walk through him in a couple of rounds.
“And I think that’s what it looks like to everybody and that’s why they’re intrigued; why would Jake Paul do that? It’s going to be interesting.”
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