Mike Tyson has suggested that an offer worth around $50million would still not tempt him to accept a fight with Jake Paul.
Tyson fought Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition clash in 2020 which was a huge success and set the precedent for further celebrity boxing matches to come. Recent reports indicated Tyson had agreed to face Paul in a mega-fight but the legendary heavyweight quickly moved to quash the claims.
The 55-year-old has insists he wasn't told anything about fighting Paul and would demand much more money to make a fight happen. "I don't know anything about that I haven't been told anything about that," Tyson replied on his HotBoxin' podcast with Jermall Charlo when asked about a $49million offer. "Listen I haven't got no f****** money. I haven't seen or got no contract.
"I don't know nothing about it. I have never heard this. I was with him a while ago partying and he never told me this. We got to get some more man s***, that is blonde hair and blue-eyed, that s** is very expensive we need to get some more money man."
Tyson suggested last year that he was eyeing a return to the ring as he continued to train. Paul, meanwhile, has made a huge name for himself after winning his first five professional fights while earning a sizeable fortune.
A report indicated the pair had agreed to fight in an exhibition bout in Las Vegas. Tyson had previously admitted he has huge respect for Paul and his brother Logan who have both made a name for themselves in fighting.
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He later confirmed that if the fight had been proposed two years ago he may of considered any offers but is no longer interested in making a clash. “It was all word of mouth and stuff, I don’t know," Tyson said on an episode of the FULL SEND podcast. “I’m not even interested in doing this stuff.
"It’s fun. If it was back when I first started, yes, and we were both fighting on the same card, we were both active, yeah I would do it. But it’s just turned out bad, it’s not going to turn out right. Every 12 or 13 months there is something missing like boom I'm losing muscle mass. I wanted to do it the first time just for fun, other people took it to the financial level and I didn't enjoy it anymore."
Tyson previously proposed a social media and YouTube fighting tournament after backing the celebrity stars' influence on boxing by showing the sport to a new generation. He has since gone on to back Jake's brother Logan's exhibition bout against Floyd Mayweather.
"We've started a genre, now we've got guys like Logan Paul doing this stuff. I think Logan Paul is a big shot in the arm for boxing," Tyson said. "No boxer has ever brought that many people to the network like Logan Paul did and I think he's good for boxing, he brings money to boxing.
