Mike Tyson and Jake Paul sent 'freak show' message ahead of boxing fight

Mike Tyson and Jake Paul have been told their fight is a "freak show" ahead of their clash next month.

Tyson will come out of retirement at the age of 58 to take on social media star Paul who is 30 years his junior. Tyson has not fought since he retired on his stool after five rounds against Kevin McBride in 2005, although he did share the ring with fellow legend Roy Jones Jr in 2020 with the fight scored a draw.

Paul has amassed a record of 10-1 since his debut in 2020 by predominately fighting former MMA stars including Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva and Nate Diaz. Most recently he stopped bare-knuckle fighter Mike Perry who had stepped in to replace Tyson when he pulled out of his original July date with Paul.

Next month's showdown in Dallas has come in for severe criticism amid fears for Tyson's health. And star Paddy Pimblett has added his voice to the condemnation. " is a unit but this fight with is ridiculous," . "He was still an absolute unit when I met him anyway, and he wasn’t in shape then. He’s still an absolute brick s***house. He’s just built like that. Now he's in shape – but he shouldn't be fighting at 58, it's just ridiculous. It’s just stupid.

"He definitely doesn't need to either. He's got the money to not fight, so I just don't understand why they're doing it. I've chatted a lot of s*** about Jake Paul because he never used to be able to throw a punch, but now that he's actually trained for a few years, he can throw a punch. His boxing doesn't actually look that bad. But a few years ago when he started and people were saying to me ‘you fight Jake Paul’, I was like, ‘lad, he's f***ing s****’.

"But now he's trained for that long and put that much work in, you've got to give him his due. He doesn't look that bad. Like he outboxed Mike Perry even though he had like 40 lbs on him. But it's Tyson, whether he's 58 or not, it's Mike Tyson. I don't even know [what happens] that's just like a freak show fight, I wouldn't even put a prediction on that. I hope Mike Tyson knocks him out. As we've just said, he's 58 years of age, and he hasn't fought in about 15 years as well."

Paul and Tyson will meet over eight two-minute rounds in front of up to 80,000 fans at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas. The rivals will wear 14oz gloves rather than the traditional 8oz or 10oz mitts in professional boxing, but will not wear headguards, and knockouts will be permitted.