Jake Paul has hailed boxing legend Mike Tyson and wants to fight him before the end of the year.
The YouTube star was reported to have verbally agreed to face Tyson last year but both fighters denied that a fight was set to take place. Since the denial, Tyson has claimed he plans to hold talks with Paul over an exhibition bout despite previously admitting it would take a sizeable U-turn to consider an offer.
Tyson declared that any fight with Paul would have to happen before the end of the year but believes that a fight is possible. Paul has now issued a response on social media, tweeting: "Thank you to the great Mike Tyson for the respect and opportunity. This year we are making it happen."
The boxing legend has defended Paul's recent boxing record and has claimed that Paul is helping the sport by bringing new audiences and inflated purses for fighters. "Anything is possible but it has got to happen this year," Tyson responded when asked about a clash with the YouTube star on the Jimmy Kimmel show. "That could be very interesting. He is skilled enough and I will give it to him because he is winning.
"Even if he is fighting fighters that aren't meant to be good enough, they should still be beating him but they can't. He is beating people that he shouldn't really be beating so you have to give him credit. He is doing good and he is doing things that are great for boxing. This guy has 7 million people following him every time he fights.
"The champions of the world don't have that many people following him so what he is doing for boxing is sensational. No-one should be hating on him, what this kid is doing they should be following him. He is helping everybody get money so why are people mad at him?"
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Tyson has backed Paul throughout his five-fight professional career which began when he defeated fellow YouTuber AnEson Gib. Paul then fought on the undercard of Tyson's exhibition against Roy Jones Jr which gave the YouTube star a sizeable platform to spark his career beyond the ropes.
Paul has already announced his ring return will take place on August 6 but has yet to name an opponent with the likes of Tommy Fury and UFC legend Anderson Silva believed to be in the running. However the 25-year-old believes a fight with Tyson would come closest to breaking the pay-per-view record.
"Ideally, for sure, that's legendary," he told Boxing Social about the potential fight. "The old generation of boxing with the new generation of boxing, all being mixed into one. As Mike Tyson said on the Joe Rogan podcast, it would be one of the biggest pay-per-views of all time. Together when we were on the same card, we sold almost two million pay-per-views. It could be three million pay-per-views, four million pay-per-views."
