TEDDY ATLAS reckons Mike Tyson could smash Jake Paul to pieces – but has questioned if the whole thing is real.
The legendary 68-year-old trainer coached Iron Mike under the watchful eye of their shared mastermind mentor Cus D’Amato.
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And he has watched the extreme highs and lows of the 58-year-old heavyweight’s career, right up to the freak-show fight with the 27-year-old YouTuber in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Atlas knows the last thing a fighter loses is his power, meaning the Baddest Man on the Plant remains a threat to anyone.
But he’s also seen the growth of the relationship between the icon Tyson Fury was named after and the influencer that lost to Tommy Fury in his only competitive fight.
“Is it real?,” the respected veteran asked?
“If I am asked a question then I am going to say what I believe.
“I am not trying to point the finger or pour water on their party but a legitimate question from me is; is it real? Maybe it is, I hope it is.
“Is there going to be an honest effort to go and knock the other guy out? Is that really at the forefront of what is in these two guys’ minds?
“Is that what is driving these two guys – or is it strictly just to make money?
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“The last thing that goes is power, look at George Foreman.
“Yeah your speed goes and your reflexes deteriorate, no doubt about it, but your power don’t.
“It’s muscle memory and if Paul throws a punch then Mike has the muscle memory to slip it and throw a punch and that’s all the timing he needs to land.
“So, if it is real and legit, I think the first two rounds could be really dangerous for Paul.
“You could see Tyson going out and going BANG, BANG and suddenly Paul has a problem and that’s the curiosity for me.
“I think he has the physicality, even at 58, to hurt the guy – if he has that mental effort and attitude and commitment to want to do it in a legitimate way.”
Everyone involved in making, promoting and broadcasting the show on Netflix is insisting the Texas spectacle is a huge sellout success.
But ticket prices for the AT&T stadium have been slashed and the genuine boxing community is only concerned with Tyson’s safety, after the original July bout was postponed after the Hangover star suffered a burst ulcer.
Atlas – who trained Tyson during his most primitive and formative years until a violent confrontation broke up the Catskills team when the wonderkid was 15 – has seen too many staged shows to believe the script is the only thing that could get damaged.
Atlas rightly pointed out: “About two years ago they were talking about this fight on their podcasts, they were friendly and had a relationship and the fight never happened. But now it does happen.
“I have to look at that, I’m sorry, because I am the sort of person who looks under the hood when I buy a car off of a slick guy. I want to see if there is actually an engine in this thing.
“The press conference did not fill me with confidence, when Tyson was tickling him. I have never seen anything like that.
“If I had then I would have thought it was something from the WWF event. When you see that, it makes you wonder.”
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Counting down to Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson…
READ MORE on all the build-up to the massive clash in Texas on Netflix…
Mike Tyson was the most terrifying and famous force on the planet in the late 1980’s but – following the death of D’Amato – his commitment and career fell apart when he lost to Buster Douglas in a 42-1 upset in 1990.
A three year stint in prison – during his potentially prime years – ruled out the ideal comeback and he won just five of his last 12 fights, including the disgusting 1997 disqualification for biting a chunk off of Evander Holyfield’s ear.
Tyson was a ghost of his brilliant best by the early 2000’s when he lost his last two professional fights to Danny Williams and Kevin McBride.
So it was no surprise he shuffled around the ring in a nostalgic but nonsense exhibition bout with Roy Jones Jr in 2020, and proved he has absolutely nothing physical left to offer the sport.
So it’s really a disgrace that the Texas commission has bent the standard rules of professional male boxing to let two men – with a thirty year age gap – box for two-minute rounds and with extra-padded 14oz sparring gloves.
And Atlas worries that a toothless Tyson will be seen as little more than a struggling circus act who has lost the bite to bring back even a glimmer of his old wild ways.
“You have to remember that Tyson isn’t Tyson anymore,” he said.
“He ain’t the same guy anymore, this isn’t mandated into his life, there is no urgency for him to go and hurt anyone. His legacy is secured, it’s done.
“He ain’t the guy anymore who believes in that old attitude and behaviour, that was his retirement speech and we are supposed to take people for their word.
“If you get in a cage with a lion, even an old lion missing a few claws and a few teeth, I would still hesitate to get in with a lion because it is a lion.
“But if it has a brain transplant with a kitten and now wants to cuddle up and sleep on your lap, then I might jump in with it. That’s what it comes down to.
“At the end of Tyson’s career, people weren’t coming out to witness his athletic capability anymore, they were coming to see a freak show. They were coming to see a curiosity.
“They knew he bit a guy’s ear off once and wondered what he would bite next.
“And that’s still in the air with Tyson and that’s why they have done the show and Netflix have decided to buy it.
“It has the components and elements of a younger guy trying to prove he is a fighter against the former great fighter who remains an enigma.”
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