‘Who doesn’t want to make some money?’: Zhilei Zhang on possibly fighting Jake Paul

Zhilei Zhang says he’d be open to facing Jake Paul in a “money grab” fight.

Zhilei Zhang will have his eyes on Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson this Friday night, and the Chinese heavyweight contender says he would be open to a fight with Paul in the future.

“Who doesn’t want to make some money? It’s a money grab if that happens,” Zhang told AceOdds. “But all jokes aside, he’s fighting Mike Tyson, who was my idol growing up. At the age of [58], he’s still out there, training hard and trying to bang the youngsters, I feel like it’s a great motivation.”

Yes, we all read it the same. (Zhang’s nickname, of course, is “Big Bang,” and “bang” used in this manner has become a pretty familiar thing that he’s in on, too.)

Zhang says he hopes Tyson wins on Friday, and that he could see Tyson fighting again in some form after.

“I think Mike is his own man. He makes his own decisions, but I just hope he wins. I just hope he wins this fight and comes out victorious. I believe that the boxing world, the fans all over the world, if they call for a fight, Mike’s going to listen because the audience will be there.”

Tyson last stepped into a ring for an exhibition bout against Roy Jones Jr in late 2020, which was on the one hand a glorified sparring session, but did draw a major audience. It was also a show that featured Jake Paul on the undercard, as he had a sanctioned fight against former NBA player Nate Robinson, who proceeded to embarrass himself and really set the “Jake Paul is a boxer” train a-rolling.

Paul has built a record of 10-1 (7 KO) in his “boxing career,” and Friday’s fight with Tyson — despite two-minute rounds and giant gloves — will be a sanctioned fight in Texas, and will count on their pro records. Tyson (50-6, 44 KO) hasn’t had a sanctioned fight since his depressing 2005 loss to Kevin McBride, which saw Tyson retire from the bout, and from boxing, after six rounds.

Now if you’re still reading, let’s go ahead and be clear that there is no way in this galaxy that Jake Paul is ever going to step into a ring for real with Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KO), who at 6’6” and somewhere between 280 and 290 lbs, would dwarf Paul in the ring and also, you know, he’s a legitimate, serious, contender professional boxer, not a basketball player, old MMA guy, or club boxer with a fluff record. But Zhang’s answer is honest, at least. Who doesn’t want to make a lot of money, especially for what would be easy work?