Mike Tyson Feels Good After Health Issues, Ready for Rescheduled Fight with Jake Paul

NEW YORK (AP) — Mike Tyson is 58 years old and health problems have forced him to postpone his return to the ring.

The boxer, once considered probably the most dangerous man on the earth, could possibly be putting himself at risk by putting on gloves again. But he was quick to reply Sunday when asked why he plans to fight Jake Paul.

“Because I can. Who else can do it if not me? Who else is he going to fight to make it happen?” Tyson said, gesturing to the group at a packed news conference where fans cheered the previous heavyweight champion and booed Paul.

“We just need to listen to the facts. We have a YouTuber fighting the greatest warrior who ever lived.”

Tyson and Paul resumed preparations for the match, now scheduled for Nov. 15 on the Dallas Cowboys’ home in Arlington, Texas. They were scheduled to satisfy on July 20 before Tyson became nauseous and dizzy during a flight from Miami to Los Angeles in May, and his representatives attributed the episode to an ulcer problem.

Tyson said Sunday that he returned to training two or three weeks ago and feels good.

“Listen, I’m ready now,” Tyson said.

The undisputed heavyweight champion from 1987-90, Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) retired in 2005 before returning for an exhibition fight with Roy Jones in 2020. Fans seem enthusiastic about his return, with a lot of them turning him down Sunday after too many showed up for their news conference on the ultimate day of the Fanatics Fest event in New York City.

Paul (10-1, 7 KOs) fought each the fighters he was booed by and the fighter himself on the opposite side of the stage.

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“Hey New York, you’re like Mike Tyson,” Paul said. “You were good 20 years ago.”

Tyson’s most dominant days actually got here much earlier, and Paul understands he probably wouldn’t get much credit for a win over such a weakened opponent. But the previous Disney Channel star, who’s tipped to change into a boxing champion, said the Tyson fight remains to be paying off now.

“Big moments, big pressure, big scenes, one of the best ever made, more experience than I have, more fights than I have, I’m going to learn a lot in this fight and this training camp,” Paul said. “So that helps me in my future fights and everything I want to achieve.”

He took the fight after Tyson was forced to withdraw after stopping bare-knuckle boxing champion Mike Perry within the sixth round on July 20. Perry, like lots of the fighters on Paul’s resume, comes from the world of mixed martial arts, not boxing.

Back then he preferred to fight Tyson and now he’s looking forward to a second probability.

“I was ready earlier, you needed a little break,” he told Tyson. “Does your tummy still hurt?”

The fight, which can be available on Netflix, can be an official fight, albeit one which can be fought over eight two-minute rounds and with heavier gloves than usual. The most authentic boxing match on the cardboard often is the one which precedes it, when super lightweight champion Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano rematch Taylor’s thrilling 2022 victory in the primary women’s boxing match to headline Madison Square Garden.

Then Paul will try to point out what he desires to be in boxing, or Tyson can show what he was once. He said his health problems won’t get in the best way of that.

“I had a little bit of adversity. I got sick, but I feel better,” Tyson said. “I feel good.”