Teddy Atlas is unsure of the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight. As it is now well known, ‘The Problem Child’ is set to fight Mike Tyson on July 20 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Soon after the fight was made official, a plethora of controversies surrounded the face-off. Personalities from different spheres of sports criticized the idea. And now, the legendary boxing coach questioned the integrity of the boxing match in his recent podcast on YouTube. He has his doubts about whether the fight is legitimate.
Most of the backlashes are surfacing due to the huge gap in age for the two fighters. While Tyson is 57-years-old, Jake Paul is 30 years younger than him. Although arguments have been made about Tyson still having his skill sets intact, that have hardly stopped the critics.
While on the podcast, Teddy Atlas spoke about what concerned him regarding the fight. He raised his questions, saying,
“Unless this is a WWE (type) agreement..But I’m just saying, if there was a time I would question it (Paul’s integrity) this would be the time because I can’t see unless Paul’s that confident that Tyson’s too old now.”
Atlas went on to state that he believed that all of Jake Paul’s fights were legitimate bouts. But this was the first instance when he felt that something might be wrong with the integrity of the upcoming fight with Nike Tyson. Teddy Atlas believes Jake Paul can not take Mike Tyson lightly. Losing to a 58-year-old fighter would be detrimental to his plans of becoming a world champion.
Which is why Atlas is a little skeptical about the legitimacy of this fight. He believes ‘Iron’ Mike is still lethal with the gloves and can knock Paul out. However, the legendary trainer does not hate ‘The Problem Child’. In fact, he admires the YouTuber turned boxer. When Paul announced the fight, he gave him credit for making the fight.
Teddy Atlas gives Jake Paul and Mike Tyson credit for making the fight
Teddy Atlas has nothing but respect for Jake Paul. The boxing coach spoke about how ‘The Problem Child’ never disrespected boxing. He did quite the opposite of it.
Atlas admires Paul for coming into the sport, working his ‘a*s’ off and now reaping the rewards of his hard work. In an interview for Pro Boxing Fans YT, he had this to say about what Tyson’s mindset will be ahead of the fight,
“This is for the old school, I’m gonna show that even at this age, a guy that wasn’t in the game from the beginning..is not gonna beat a guy who was brought up to be a fighter. So, it’s interesting, I give them both credit.”
Teddy Atlas believes Mike Tyson will go into the fight trying to prove that he’s still got it. However, as he stated previously, Jake Paul has the most to lose from this fight. Regardless of whether he wins or loses, people will look to discredit him bringing up Tyson’s age. Thus, it will be interesting to see how the fight pans out.
