Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson ‘freak show’ facing last-minute scrutiny from boxing insiders — ‘The event is dangerous’

I guess someone does give a f—k about Tyson after all.

Jesse Holland is among the longest-tenured media professionals in the combat sports news space, covering MMA, professional wrestling and boxing on a full-time basis since early 2004.

Jake Paul and Mike Tyson are just two days in front of their boxing showdown, scheduled for this Friday night (Nov. 15, 2024) inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. But as we’ve learned in this crazy sport, fights are never guaranteed until both athletes are standing inside the arena of combat, whether it be a ring or a cage.

And Tyson still has to get through pre-fight medicals.

It sounds like longtime boxing commentator Jim Lampley would not be sad if the bout was called off. Lampley has been a part of Tyson’s career for several decades and considers the 58 year-old “Iron” man to be his friend. In fact, Lampley would go so far as to call the Paul fight a dangerous freak show devoid of competition.

“The age difference is big enough that the event is dangerous,” Lampley told Fight Hub TV. “And I kind of wish Mike found some other way to do business rather than to fight somebody who’s Jake’s age and has a chance to get into the kind of shape that Jake might get into. But he’s still a far, far piece removed from understanding boxing and having the kind of refined skills that Mike had at his peak. Again, the question is, how much of Mike do you get to see when he’s 57 years old? I love him, I’m rooting for him, I’m not going to make the buy. It’s not an event that I want to see. It’s too much of a distortion. It’s not competition, it’s a freak show.”

Tyson had a previous medical scare earlier this year and sometimes struggles to walk.

“The vast majority of those people, who pay attention to Mike because of his celebrity and his illustrious image don’t know anything about boxing,” Lampley said. “They don’t really understand the risk that he’s taking by going into the ring. We’re not faking it here. People are going to hit each other. And again ... he’s 57, 58 years old. I think he probably still has enough craft that he can protect himself int he right way against somebody who, no matter how long he trains, is still at that level of novice. So I think that Mike is going to be okay. But my biggest hope about the entire event is that nothing bad happens to my friend.”

We’ll find out this Friday night in “The Lone Star State.”