Evander Holyfield believes Mike Tyson should be victorious against influencer turned boxer Jake Paul in their eight-round fight this Friday, but he’s not sure what happened due to “big money” being involved.
Holyfield feels that the 27-year-old Jake can win if he smothers Tyson’s power by staying on the inside to keep him from getting leverage on his punches. Of course, by doing so, Pau will nullify his own punching power because he’s not an inside fighter and could put himself at the mercy of Tyson’s uppercuts.
In other words, the former champion Holyfield suspects something suspect may happen that will taint the outcome of the Paul vs. Tyson fight at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The event will be shown live on Netflix. Both fighters will wear 14-oz gloves, and rounds will be two minutes instead of three. This is to give the 58-year-old Mike Tyson a small handicap for his age and 19 years of inactivity since his last fight in 2005.
Holyfield defeated Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) twice during his career. He stopped him in the 11th round in 1996 and then won by a third-round disqualification in their rematch in 1997 in the infamous bite fight.
“I just know that Mike Tyson’s supposed to beat him,” said Evander Holyfield to Clock and Loaded, discussing this Friday’s match between Mike Tyson and the influencer Jake Paul.
“It’s a big money thing, so ain’t no telling what’s going to happen,” said Holyfield.
Many fans believe Jake Paul will win this fight just based on his youth and activity. Besides being very old, Tyson hasn’t exactly lived a clean life in the last 20 years. He’s definitely indulged a bit with the finer things of being a millionaire, and he hasn’t always kept in shape. In recent years, he’d gotten really big, putting on a lot of weight, and while he’s trimmed, it’s still hard to come back after living the way he has.
“If he stays close to Mike, then his chance of winning is going to be great, but if he tries to stay back from Mike, he’s going to get caught. Mike is like a snake. He’ll pop out on you. He gets there too quick,” said Holyfield to Fight Hub TV about the importance of Jake Paul staying close to Tyson to keep him from generating power on his shots.
“If you charge him, you’re going to smother him. If you give him room, everybody gets knocked out going backward,” said Holyfield about Mike Tyson.
Jake would be making a mistake if he listened to Holyfield’s wacky ideas about crowding Mike Tyson to smother his power. Perhaps he doesn’t remember the inside fighting ability that Tyson showed during his career, but he is always dangerous in close combat. A novice fighter with a scant ability like Paul will get knocked out if he fights Tyson on the inside rather than stay at a distance.
