Tyson Fury Praises Mike Tyson, Jake Paul for Making 'a S--t Ton of Money' for Fight

Reigning WBC world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury gave props this week to Mike Tyson and Jake Paul for their upcoming fight.

During an interview with The Stomping Ground (h/t Christopher De Santiago of Sports Illustrated), Fury praised both Tyson and Paul for agreeing to a fight that will be financially beneficial to both of them, saying: "Listen, who am I to say, 'Oh, Mike Tyson shouldn't be boxing or Jake Paul shouldn't be boxing?' Good luck to 'em. They're both gonna make what I call a s--t ton of money out of it. So, isn't that what it's about?"

Tyson is a multi-time former world champion and is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, but he is 57 years of age and hasn't competed in a non-exhibition bout since 2005.

Paul is much younger at 27, and while he is 9-1 as a professional boxer, his level of competition has been suspect at best.

The YouTuber-turned-boxer had his first pro fight in 2020, and many of his victories have come against former MMA fighters, including Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva and Nate Diaz.

Paul's past two wins have come against boxers in Andre August and Ryan Bourland, but they weren't viewed as high-level opponents.

To date, Paul's only loss was against Fury's younger brother, Tommy Fury, who beat Paul in February 2023 by split decision.

Tyson Fury expressed his belief that Tyson vs. Paul is a "pretty even match" given the age and experience gaps, and he also suggested that their fight is a good thing for the sport:

"I think it's fantastic for boxing. You've got a legend in Mike Tyson. You've got a YouTube boxer [Paul]. He has come into the game and blew it up and he's got millions of followers and millions of views and millions of eyes. Good, bad or indifferent. Some people love him, some people hate him. So, I think it's a really good spectacle for boxing. Brings a lot of people to the game."

Fury went on to say that even people who criticize the fight are likely to watch it, adding: "Who's not intrigued?"

The Tyson vs. Paul fight was officially agreed to earlier this month, and it was announced that the event will take place at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and be streamed live on Netflix.

In January, Netflix announced that it had 260 million worldwide subscribers as of the end of 2023, meaning Tyson vs. Paul could be one of the most-watched fights of all time and a catalyst for the sport of boxing and its popularity.