Topics: Boxing, Jake Paul, Mike Tyson
Jake Paul has asked the Boxing Commission to make a major U-turn ahead of his fight with Mike Tyson.
Last month it was announced that YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul would take on 57-year-old former unified heavyweight champion Tyson in a boxing match at the AT&T Arena in Texas on July 20.
Paul, 27, has just 10 competitive fights to his name, mostly against former UFC stars, while Tyson was once the youngest heavyweight champion in history and the first person to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles.
Since the announcement there has been much speculation regarding the rules and status of the bout.
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Many have suggested that due to the age gap, the fight will take place under exhibition rules with both men wearing protective headgear and 18-ounce gloves.
Tyson, meanwhile, admitted that though the flight will be recognised as an exhibition, he vowed, while speaking to Fox News, that the action inside the ring will still deliver for the millions of fans expected to tune in on Netflix.
"This is called an exhibition, but if you look up exhibition, you won't see any of the laws we're fighting under,” Tyson said. “This is a fight. I don't think he's faster than me. I've seen a YouTube video of him at 16 doing weird dancing.
“That's not the guy I'm fighting. This is a guy who's going to try and hurt me, which I'm accustomed to, and he's going to be greatly mistaken."
Paul has now claimed that he is making a request to the boxing commission for the fight to be given professional rather than exhibition status.
Speaking to Fox News he said: “It's so annoying that people on the Internet will believe anything they see or hear. There's been so much misinformation.
“Mike and I want this to be a pro fight, full face shots. We're submitting that request to the commission. It's an all-out war.
“There's been all these fake videos about not being able to hit each other, big gloves, all of that stuff, and it's all, as Trump would say, fake news.”
