Mike Tyson ‘ready’ to fight Jake Paul after health scare

NEW YORK – Mike Tyson is 58 years old and has suffered a health scare that led to the postponement of his return to the ring.

The boxer once considered the most dangerous man in the world could be putting himself in danger by putting the gloves back on, but he was quick to respond on Sunday when asked why he would go through with his fight against Jake Paul.

“Because I can. Who else can do it but me? Who else is he going to fight to do it?” Tyson said, pointing to the crowd at a packed news conference where fans cheered the former heavyweight champion and booed Paul.

“We just have to hear the facts. We have a YouTuber fighting the greatest fighter of all time.”

Tyson and Paul have resumed preparations for their match, now set for Nov. 15 at the Dallas Cowboys' home stadium in Arlington, Texas. They were scheduled to meet on July 20 before Tyson began to feel nauseous and dizzy on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles in May. His representatives attributed the incident to a stomach ulcer.

Tyson said Sunday he started training again two or three weeks ago and was feeling good.

“Hey, listen, I just got done,” Tyson said.

Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs), the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world from 1987 to 1990, retired in 2005 before returning for an exhibition fight against Roy Jones in 2020. Fans seem to be excited about his return; some of them had to be turned away on Sunday because too many showed up for their press conference on the final day of the Fanatics Fest event in New York.

Paul (10-1, 7 KOs) struggled with both the fans booing him and the fighter on the other side of the stage.

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

Tyson's most dominant period is actually a long time ago and Paul knows he probably wouldn't get much credit for a win against such a weak opponent. But the former Disney Channel star, who insists he wants to be a world boxing champion, said there are still benefits to fighting Tyson now.

“Big moments, big pressure, big stages, one of the greatest ever, more experience than me, more fights than me, I'm going to learn a lot in this fight and through this training camp,” Paul said. “So this will help me in my future fights and everything I want to achieve.”

He took a fight after Tyson was forced to retire and stopped bare-knuckle fighting champion Mike Perry in the sixth round on July 20. Perry, like many of the fighters on Paul's resume, comes from the world of mixed martial arts rather than boxing.

He preferred to fight Tyson back then and is now eagerly awaiting his second chance.

“I was already exhausted, you needed a little break,” he said to Tyson. “Does your stomach still hurt?”

The fight, which will stream on Netflix, is an official bout, but will be contested over eight 2-minute rounds and with heavier gloves than usual. The truest boxing match on the card could be the previous one, when super lightweight champion Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano compete in a rematch of Taylor's thrilling 2022 victory in the first women's boxing match at Madison Square Garden.

Then Paul will try to show what he wants to achieve in boxing, or maybe Tyson can show what he once was. He said his health problems won't prevent that.

“I had a little misfortune. I was sick, but I'm better,” Tyson said. “I feel good.”