Dana White believes that Jake Paul needs the presence of Mike Tyson to generate interest in their upcoming fight.
The YouTuber-turned-professional boxer, Paul (9-1), is slated to face Tyson (50-6) on July 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the home of the Dallas Cowboys.
White, while expressing his disapproval of the matchup, particularly given Tyson’s age of 58 at the time of the bout, emphasized Paul’s trend of selecting older opponents.
“I love Mike, and I hate talking about this because he always gets mad at me when I talk about this stuff,” White remarked on the “Pound 4 Pound” podcast. “I’m not thrilled to see him do this stuff. When the fight happens, he’ll be 58 years old. It’ll be a 31-year age difference between these two.”
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White also pointed out a social media post suggesting that if Paul were to defeat Tyson, his next opponent might be Clint Eastwood, who is 93 years old. White expressed skepticism about the direction of Paul’s boxing career.
“Jake Paul did fight a kid his age and he lost. I just saw this thing on the internet yesterday, I reposted where it say if he beats Mike Tyson, he’s going to fight Clint Eastwood next. Clint Eastwood is 93 years old. I don’t know, man.”
Despite facing more notable opponents in MMA and Tommy Fury, Paul’s recent boxing matches against lesser-known fighters like Andre August and Ryan Bourland have raised eyebrows. However, facing a boxing legend like Tyson marks a significant shift, with the fight set to air live on Netflix for subscribers.
White believes that Paul’s strategy revolves around maximizing profits, emphasizing the necessity for Paul to engage with opponents who can drive pay-per-view sales.
“What Jake wants is Jake wants to make money,” White explained. “The people that follow Jake Paul don’t buy Jake Paul’s fights, so Jake Paul has to fight people who can actually sell pay-per-views.”
