Ahead of their boxing match, Jake Paul and Mike Tyson went face to face one more time at the press conference held on the last day of the inaugural Fanatics Fest NYC. The Cleveland YouTuber turned pro boxer and the former undisputed heavyweight champion of Brooklyn square off on November 15 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The scheduled for eight rounds bout tops the fight card live on Netflix.
Jake Paul (10-1, 7 KOs) was on top in his previous outing in July via TKO against Mike Perry. The bout replaced the original showdown with Mike Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) that was rescheduled to mid November after a medical scare forced the contest to be postponed.
“Making history. This is what it’s all about for me, man,” Jake Paul said from the Javits Center in New York. “I’m a kid from Ohio… They’ll never give me credit. That’s the way it is. If I was walking on water, they would say it’s because I couldn’t swim.”
“And this is to make history. The people think I’m going to get knocked out by this strong, powerful guy. All the people in my comments say, ‘look at his power. He’s going to get KO’d.’ This has taken a chance to fight somebody as vicious as Mike can be. You got to risk it for the biscuit. That’s the name of the game.”
“I’m here to make history. I’m here for a challenge. I’m here to fight one of the most dangerous men in all of boxing. No one that ever did anything great got there with ease or by an easy, non bumpy road. I’m here to challenge myself. He’s vicious. He’s a killer. I know all of these things. He has one punch knockout power. He’s the greatest heavyweight of all time. But I will prove all the haters wrong.”
“People are yelling at me in the event, but what happens when I put this man to sleep? He’s saying that it’s going to be my funeral. He’s saying it’s going to be my wake. He’s going to kill Jake Paul. All of these things, and that’s why I love Mike. I respect him, but we’re not friends anymore until November 15th. I’m knocking this motherfucker out and we’re going to see who’s dead.”
[Mike Tyson] is the one that wanted it to be a pro fight, so he’s going to get his a** knocked out [and have it count for his real professional record]. You’re going to see on BoxRec, Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson. Jake Paul KO’s Mike Tyson.”
“At the end of the day, people are always going to have something to say. It’s because of who I am. I proved everyone wrong. Reminder: the most hated and most criticized boxer in the sport of boxing before they loved them was Muhammad Ali. So I’m the anti-hero, and people will love me soon enough once they realize what I’ve done for this sport and who I truly am. But it doesn’t bother me at the end of the day, because when you’re at the top, people are clawing to rip you down. And that’s just the way the game goes.”
“I’m still on the path to become world champion. There’s a lot of sh*t talkers out there, a lot of big names who want to fight me. I still want Canelo Alvarez and I want to go on the path to world championship and that’s what I’m here to do. And I will make it happen. And when it happens, people are going to go, ‘God damn that kid did something we didn’t.'”
“In this sport, staying active is key,” Paul said when asked why he had taken the fight against Mike Perry. “I’m on the path to [a] world championship. I’ll do the money fights, I’ll knock out some legends, but at the end of the day, I want the belt. And that’s what I’m here to do.”
“[This is a fight with] big moments, big pressure, big stages [against] one of the greatest to ever do it. [Mike Tyson has] more experience than me, more fights than me, and I’m going to learn a lot in this fight and through this training camp. So this is helping me in my future fights and everything that I want to accomplish.”
Mike Tyson said: “I’m very prepared [to knock out Jake Paul]. I’m very prepared. I had a small adversity. I got sick, but I feel good.I’m just ready. I’m just ready. I’m going to do my talk and I’m going to talk my shit, but I’m ready to fight.”
“Well I’m beautiful and I’ve been [back to] training for a while, like two weeks, three weeks. I’m in camp.”
“Hey, listen, [as] soon as I catch this guy, it’s [over. Jake Paul is] going to be running around [the ring], but as soon as I catch this guy, it’s going to be totally over.”
“I’m going to f*** you up,” Tyson said on what happens to anyone who steps in the ring against him. “It’s [the fight] happening. We’re all here.”
“I don’t know. That’s a funny question,” Tyson said when asked why he was stepping back into the ring again. “Because I can. Who else can do it but me? Just look at it. Who else is he going to fight to make [an event of this magnitude] happen?”
When asked about how Paul’s disrespectful words made him feel, Tyson said: “I don’t know. He amazes me.” Meanwhile, the crowd was chanting ‘F***k Jake Paul’.
As for his next move after Jake Paul fight, Tyson said “Hey, we have options. We’ll see.”
In the co-feature to Paul vs Tyson, Katie Taylor (23-1, 6 KOs) of Ireland defends her undisputed super lightweight title against old rival Amanda Serrano (47-2-1, 31 KOs) of Puerto Rico. Among the undercard bouts, Neeraj Goyat (18-4-2, 8 KOs) of India and Whindersson Nunes (0-1) of Brazil square off at super middleweight.