On Saturday, July 20, at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, Jake Paul (9-1, 6 KOs) will face bare-knuckle boxing star Mike Perry (0-1, 0 KOs) in a cruiserweight bout live on DAZN. Ahead of this upcoming fight, Jake Paul has spoken to Dan Rafael on the Big Fight Weekend recap podcast about the Mike Tyson postponement and his thoughts about his fight against Perry.
Jake Paul Discusses Mike Tyson Cancellation
Paul Discusses Mike Perry Fight
When asked about his disappointment regarding the Mike Tyson fight postponement, Jake Paul said: “It was definitely heart-wrenching, and I felt so bad for everyone on the undercard as well and I knew how much this meant to me and I was so focussed on it.”
He continued: “This was like my one singular focus, then you have to shift your mindset away from that all of a sudden. It was a massive L, but we love to turn our Ls into Ws, and that’s what we’re doing here with Mike Perry. Keeping the train rolling, staying focused, staying in camp, staying in the gym, getting that experience that I need because I started boxing so much later than everyone, and so I need to stay ready and stay fighting.”
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Rafael then asked Paul how he avoids a drop in motivation fighting Perry instead of “Iron Mike”: “Yeah, it was definitely emotional for a couple of days there. But you have to realise that you can’t control a lot of what happens in life and you just have to roll with the punches, pun intended, and stay committed to your goals. If you have true 100% commitment then whatever happens doesn’t matter because you’re just going to stay working towards the goal and committed to the goal.”
Why Mike Perry?
Moving on to his next fight against Perry, Rafael asked Paul why he decided to face the BKFC star, who is 5-0, 3 KOs: “I wanted to give a big fight to the fans. Both my last two fights, I was doing what everyone wanted (fight a real boxer). I did that, easy work, first-round knockouts, but also the hype wasn’t there and to me, that’s part of the reason I’m here and in this sport is to bring the hype, bring the big fights. So my fans and my haters even realised they probably didn’t even actually like those as much.”
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Paul added: “This guy is violent. Mike Perry is a killer. He’s a mini Mike Tyson. The fans love this. The fans have been wanting this for a couple of years so let’s make this happen and that’s really where the motivation came from.”
Message to the Critics and Beating Mike Tyson
Rafael then asked about the Tyson fight and how Paul views fighting a man long retired, and what people’s opinions will be, win or lose: “I couldn’t give a f**k what anyone thinks or wants me to do or has an opinion on and I encourage everyone to live their lives that way. Because I’m doing this fight for me. To be able to tell my kids one day that I was in the ring with Mike Tyson.”
“The Problem Child” added: “If he wants to fight me, I’m more than down, and to me that’s what its all about, and creating history, creating legacy and fighting on Netflix, the biggest entertainment platform in the world. I couldn’t give a s**t what anyone thinks.”
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Paul was then asked how it would feel to beat Mike Tyson: “That’s exactly why I’m doing it is the honour that I have for that man and to be able to go to duel and to war with someone who has channelled the energy of the gods of war and is one of the most respected legendary iconic names of all time.”
He continued: “It’s gonna bring the best out of me, and I know he’s a formidable opponent. I know he still has that power. He looks sharp as ever on his Instagram and I’m gonna be putting myself to the test. His age is the equalizing factor because he has more experience but he is not going to be in his prime.”
Listen to the exclusive interview below with Jake Paul as Dan Rafael and TJ Rives recap the weekend boxing action on the Big Fight Weekend/Fight Freaks Unite podcast.
Jake Paul Offers Perry Fight Prediction
At the end of the interview, “The Problem Child” was asked about his expectations of the result against Perry on July 20: “I think it’s very highly likely it could end in the first round, I think very highly could end in the second round and no more than three rounds, that’s certain. He just doesn’t have anything in the skillset, the defence and the footwork to be in there with me longer than that.”
