‘Modern Mike Tyson’ – Jake Paul lined up fight with ‘ferocious puncher’ as details on YouTuber’s boxing return emerge
JAKE PAUL lined up a fight against the modern day Mike Tyson – following the collapse of talks with Canelo Alvarez.
Paul was close to announcing a shock bout with Canelo for May 3 in Las Vegas after months of talks with Al Haymon of PBC.
But Canelo walked way at the 11th hour to instead sign a bumper four-fight deal with Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh.
So Paul and his Most Valuable Promotions partner Nakisa Bidarian continued discussions with PBC for a fight against Tank Davis.
Bidarian told SunSport: “The reality is we spent a lot of time with Al Hayman and PBC trying to make the Canelo fight happen and we want to be supportive of what they’re doing across the board.
“Gervonta Davis, other than Jake Paul, is the only American pay-per-view box office star.
“And, Gervonta has called Jake a clown multiple times and said he could beat him with one hand tied behind his back.
“So, not like the guys are massive fans of each other, but they also have respect and understand that the two of them are the standalone kind of massive fighters from the US.”
Paul and Bidarian were ringside in Brooklyn last month to watch Davis’ last fight against Lamont Roach.
But it ended in a controversial draw after Davis appeared to touch down with his glove but avoid a knockdown scored against him.
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Rumours swirled that Paul’s presence at the bout was to announce a blockbuster fight with Davis afterwards.
But Bidarian revealed: “Jake didn’t have a signed contract to fight anyone but I think part of being there was seeing what Tank was able to do.
“Tank is a ferocious puncher, right? He’s viewed as the modern Mike Tyson.
“So in some ways that story arc would have been perfect, but it just wasn’t on the horizon.”
Due to the size disparity – SEVEN STONE between their two fight weights – the bout would have been an exhibition.
But Davis, 30, is now set to rematch Roach, 29, in the summer.
And Paul is closing in on announcing one of two planned fights for 2025 – having not returned since beating 58-year-old Mike Tyson in November.
That bout was also marred in controversy amid the controversy amid the age gap but still 100MILLION watched on Netflix.
And Bidarian said: “We’re actively working on putting together Jake’s fight for this summer. And we’ll announce it as soon as we’re ready.
“And then we’re actively working on figuring out Jake’s next fight – call it October to December time frame.
“So the plan is for Jake to fight twice in 2025 and two to three times in 2026.”