Mike Tyson’s boxing peers are voicing concerns over his upcoming fight with Jake Paul.
Tyson, 57, is set to fight Paul, 27, in a licensed boxing match on July 20.
Tyson, a former heavyweight boxing champion, had a 50-6 record with 44 knockouts. Tyson was disqualified in a 1997 rematch against Evander Holyfield for biting off a chunk of his ear.
Tyson’s boxing peers fear he will be seriously hurt if he climbs into the ring with the much younger fighter.
They don’t want to see him being carried out of the ring on a stretcher.
“I don’t want the last thing I remember of him is him getting knocked out by a YouTuber,” said former champion Deontay Wilder. “The last thing you do, that’s what people remember you by.”
Wilder criticized the boxing commission for licensing the fight.
“I think it’s bad the commission has licensed Mike Tyson, because he hasn’t been active in 20 years,” Wilder said to Sportsbook Review. “So they should not just license him because of who he is, that’s how people get hurt – God forbid he gets hurt.”
Wilder added: “People can get hit in the wrong place and at the wrong time, there’s lots of examples where guys have been hit into a coma. It’s easy to do. He’s too old for this. At the end of the day, no one gives a f*** about Mike.”
Paul, a former YouTube influencer, is 9-1 in his boxing career.
Paul recently said he is “super respectful” of Tyson, but he won’t go easy on him. “All is fair in love and war.”
“I love the guy, but as soon as it turned into a pro fight, one of us has to die,” Paul said.
