Jake Paul has opened up on his utter dismay after Mike Tyson was forced to reschedule their hotly anticipated boxing match.
The YouTube personality was gearing up for a knockout bout with Tyson in July, but the heavyweight icon pulled the plug with a four-month delay following an unexpected ulcer relapse aboard a flight from Miami to Los Angeles.
Landing in hospital, Tyson was diagnosed with a bleeding two-and-a-half inch ulcer, leading to immediate postponement of their fight until November 15, as doctors insisted on a hiatus from his training regimen.
With the matchup just around the corner, now set to pull in a whopping crowd of up to 80,000 fans in Texas, Paul, with a respectable 10 wins out of 11 pro matches, told Netflix that the news left him floored: “When I received the news that he was out and not able to fight, I was just numb, I was just like, ‘f***’.
“I’m the type of person who likes a schedule and likes to know what I’m doing. This just threw a wrench in all of that, there was nothing I could do, it was out of my control.”
A realistic Paul notes the power dynamics with Tyson: “Nobody can tell Mike Tyson what to do and if he wants to fight me, of course I’m going to say yes.
“This is the opportunity of a lifetime to fight one of the two most famous boxers to ever live; Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. I look at Mike Tyson as a killer so I never really expected something like this.”
“At the end of the day the Mike Tyson fight is great but I have a goal to become world champion and I’m not slowing that down for anyone,” reports the Mirror.
Tyson’s last ring appearance was four years back when he tied with boxing icon Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition match, which saw Tyson in command for the most part.
Paul featured on the undercard that same evening, delivering a knockout blow to NBA’s Nate Robinson in the second round. The upcoming face-off between Tyson and Paul will be officially recorded, consisting of eight two-minute rounds with 14oz gloves for added protection.