‘I want that killer’: Jake Paul hopes for ‘savage’ Mike Tyson on Friday

Jake Paul says he hopes for a vintage Mike Tyson on Friday

Jake Paul’s fight with Mike Tyson, whatever it’s going to wind up looking like in the ring, is nearly here, as the social media phenomenon will meet the long retired, low-grade elderly boxing legend in the ring on Friday night in Texas, streaming live on Netflix.

Even with giant gloves, short rounds, and an eight-round distance, many doubt that the 58-year-old Tyson can even approach being the Mike Tyson we saw at the end of his active career in the early 2000s, which was already a far cry from a prime years “Iron Mike.”

But the 27-year-old Paul (10-1, 7 KO) says he wants a vintage Tyson as an opponent.

“I fear no man. So I want him to be that old, savage Mike,” he said yesterday. “He says he’s going to kill me. I’m ready. I want that killer. I want the hardest match possible, and I want there to be no excuses from everyone at home when I knock him out.”

There will, of course, be “excuses” if Paul knocks out Mike Tyson, chiefly that Tyson is nearly 60 years old, and also that he hasn’t trained for an actual fight in nearly two decades, when he was already a pale shade of the fighter people actually remember, who pre-dates Paul’s birth.

Paul’s standard method of ignoring reality — he also claims he’s faced “some of the best in the sport,” which is completely false — will work well enough for anyone fool enough to take the things he says at face value, but in a real sense there is absolutely no boxing credibility to gain from knocking out an old man, even if that old man used to be Mike Tyson.

Bad Left Hook will be here on Friday night with live updates and results for Paul vs Tyson, including the undercard that does feature three world title fights, including Taylor vs Serrano 2.