Trainer Dave Coldwell is disgusted with the fight this Friday night between YouTuber Jake Paul and 58-year-old Mike Tyson, who has been lured out of retirement with a $20 million purse. Paul will be fighting Tyson in an eight-rounder with both wearing 14-oz gloves in their match that will be shown on Netflix from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Coldwell feels that Jake, 27, is selling a bad product to his many followers on YouTube and social media by fighting Tyson. He says this isn’t a “real fight,” which is the same view that many knowledgeable boxing fans have.
Coldwell says Jake should fight a real boxer if he wants to be taken seriously instead of selecting older people, or ones that have no experience in boxing.
“Anyone that watches it is going to see it’s an old Mike Tyson. He’s 58 years old going into a boxing ring, and Jake Paul wants to be taken seriously,” said trainer Dave Coldwell to Pro Boxing Fans on the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight on Friday.
“14-oz gloves, 2-minute rounds, it’s not a real fight. Jake Paul, you’re doing brilliant for your marketing machine, for your name and your brand but don’t try to kid the boxing world. I get it. You’re kidding all YouTubers and all your little fans. But even that, you’re disrespecting by making it out like this is real.”
It’s surprising that the Texas State Athletic Commission has sanctioned this as a real boxing match, given Tyson’s age, 14-oz glove, and two-minute rounds. The match has an exhibition written all over it.
“It’s a 58-year-old man who has not boxed for years that has not had a good performance in decades, and it’s just clever marketing. Eyes are going to be on it. He’s [Jake Paul] a genius. He’s got it on Netflix. Start fighting some guys that are real fighters. Not people that have turned to boxing from basketball [Nate Robinson],” said Coldwell.
It wasn’t as hard for Jake to lure Tyson into taking a fight against him because he would never get $20M to fight anyone at his age. There’s no promoter that would stick their neck out by paying Tyson $20 million to fight an active boxer, and the Saudis likely wouldn’t want to get involved in a match involving the legends. There would be too much of a backlash.
“He’s talking about fighting Canelo after this as if he deserves that fight. This [Paul vs. Tyson] is an exhibition, but it’s not a very nice exhibition,” said Coldwell.
Jake hopes Canelo will agree to fight him after his match against Tyson, but it will require a massive offer to make that happen. Canelo won’t agree to the same $20 million that Mike Tyson is getting on Friday.
If Jake Paul is going to get his $40 million fighting Canelo, that would mean that a promoter or platform like Netflix would need to come up with a lot of money to pay the huge purses for both fighters. Canelo gets $40 million for his fights against fighters like Edgar Berlanga and Jaime Munguia. If he’s going to agree to a clash against the YouTuber Jake Paul, it’s possible he’ll want $100 million, which would be out of Netflix’s price range.
