On July 20th at Texas’ AT&T Stadium, Jake Paul will face Mike Tyson.

No, really.

I always wondered how far Paul’s boxing journey would go. Putting to sleep overripe mixed martial artists always felt like a fairly short-term plan when it came to forging a career.

Yet somehow, in a universe I really wish was alternate, we are headed towards the influencer-turned-boxer facing off with a legend who transcended his craft.

Not only is Tyson the most prominent boxing figure still alive today, but he could rightly pull up a chair at the table of all-time sporting icons. Unfortunately, he is 57 years old.

Which means that once he pulls up that chair, he probably won’t want to get back up and fight. Only recently was he filmed requiring a walking aid to shuffle even 100 yards.

The whole exhibition, spectacle, experiment, or whatever you want to call it, is bizarre.

I guess there are only two ways it goes.

Either the pair enter the ring and lightly touch spar, therefore conning the expected 80,000 in attendance. Or, they have a real fight under a genuine sanctioning body, where you would expect Paul to bludgeon Tyson into submission, or maybe even worse.

Perhaps I’m jumping the gun, and should instead account for the possibility that Tyson could win. He does, after all, know the metric of how to throw the perfect power punch.

In fact, it’s that reputation many in the boxing fraternity will be clinging on to, in the hope that Tyson can leave Paul flat on his back, and open to the age-based ridicule.

There is no doubt, however, that if it is Paul who walks away victorious, he will attempt to use the win as some kind of measuring stick for his ability.

No, Jake, you didn’t ‘do a better job’ than Lennox Lewis.

It is a shame really, and I just hope that amongst the bedlam of everything else going on his celebrity life, Tyson wasn’t somehow influenced to do this by some big-shot investor.

As for Paul, well, his foray into the ‘traditional’ professional boxing route lasted all of four months, with knockout wins over Andre August and oil rig worker Ryan Bourland.

‘Name one of Canelo’s first ten opponents?’ he said.

Definitely not Mike Tyson, mate.

In a weird way, I admit I will look forward to seeing how the event plays out. There is intrigue in the unthinkable, but this time round there is danger too.

‘Time to put Iron Mike to sleep’, said Paul to his 26 million Instagram followers. At 57, it should be nothing more than a few glasses of red and Friday night TV that does the trick.

Look, I might seem like I’m hating, but I just think our legends should be looked after. Is that too much to ask?

Oscar Bevis

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