Jake Paul said early on his fight against Mike Perry just months before a booked bout with Mike Tyson could prove to be a bad decision.
Of course, “could prove” is the operative term there, and Paul no doubt plans on walking away from his Saturday fight with Perry a winner in Tampa, Fla (DAZN pay-per-view). But he once again had to acknowledge that if anything goes awry, his fight with Tyson that is expected to be a blockbuster live on Netflix on Nov. 15 might be out the window.
“Nov. 15, Tyson is still on – Dallas, Texas. Get through this one – (I’m) focused on this one,” Paul said on “The Pat McAfee Show” about being double-booked. “Mike Perry’s not a joke, and it is a big risk because if I lose this one, obviously the Mike Tyson fight goes away. So there’s a lot at stake here, and that is creating a bit of pressure to deal with. But I usually thrive the best under high-pressure situations.”
Tyson had to postpone his fight with Paul at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, after the boxing legend had an ulcer flareup.
So Paul, who’s coming off back-to-back first-round knockouts of Andre August in December, then Ryan Bourland in March, booked the Perry fight. Perry, a former UFC slugger, has of late found stardom in BKFC. Perry was knocked out in his lone professional boxing match, but has only been knocked out once in 22 professional MMA fights.
“Why Mike Perry? Why now? Why not just wait? What about Mike Tyson? Yes, I am still fighting Mike Tyson Nov. 15,” Paul said on his YouTube channel when he announced the fight. “However, Mike Tyson is one of the baddest men on this planet, he has way more experience than me, he’s a killer, and so why not gain more experience against another notorious known killer, Mike Perry? The bare-knuckle legend, the man that can’t be knocked out, the vicious, violent, brawler.
“This guy is a f*cking lunatic. He’s undefeated in bare-knuckle, which is probably the craziest sport in the world. Not to mention, this fight has been brewing for years. …I think this fight is going to have some amazing press conference moments and really entertaining stuff that comes from it, but it is a major risk. I’m literally potentially sacrificing the biggest moment of my career, the biggest payday of my career if I lose to Mike Perry. But for some reason, these are the positions that I like to put myself in.”
