Jake Paul has sent a request to face a surprise replacement fighter instead of Mike Tyson on July 20.
Paul was due to take on Tyson in Arlington, Texas this summer, with the fight part of Netflix’s first live-streamed boxing card.
But the bout was postponed on Friday night after ‘Iron Mike’ suffered an ulcer flare-up during a flight last weekend.
The 57-year-old took to Twitter to confirm he was ‘feeling 100%’ days after what was described as a ‘medical emergency’, indicating that the fight would go ahead as planned.
But he subsequently received medical advice to rest for several weeks as a result of the flare-up, with the fight having to be postponed until a later date as a result.
An official statement from Most Valuable Promotions read: “During a follow up consultation on Thursday with medical professionals on his recent ulcer flare-up, the recommendation is for Mike Tyson to do minimal to light training over the next few weeks and then return to training with no limitations.
“Both Mike and Jake are in agreement that it is only fair to ensure that both athletes have equal training time to prepare for this important match and are able to compete at the highest level.
“The health and well-being of athletes is our top priority, and we fully support Mike in taking the necessary time to allow him to perform at the level he expects of himself.”
Soon after the statement, Paul’s brother Logan – who is the current WWE United States Champion – put himself forward to fight instead.
But Jake has his eyes on a different fighter – and it is somebody not many may have expected.
Taking to Twitter, ‘The Problem Child’ wrote: “KSI’s coach saying he is over 200lbs right now? So no weight excuses…
“Let’s run it for July 20th and then Paul Tyson in October / November.”
Twitter)
During Paul’s early career in boxing, it was long anticipated that he would fight KSI given the pair’s fanbase and audience potential.
They were actually due to fight in August 2023, but Paul turned the opportunity down in favour of fighting Nate Diaz – a bout in which he won by unanimous decision.
The arranging of the Tyson fight appeared to indicate that the chances of seeing Paul vs KSI were gone. But one of those two fighters is now appearing to show they remain very much interested in getting it done the second time around.
However, following Paul’s tweet, KSI hit back at the fellow YouTuber and appeared to rule himself out of the reckoning.
“I’ve already got a fight lined up in August,” he wrote.
“Instead of you fighting an OAP at the end of the year (no-one wants to see this), fight me in December instead.”
In response, Paul suggested a possible opponent for KSI.
He wrote: “KSI vs Amir Khan I f**k with. Good entertainment.”
We may just have seen Paul ‘leak’ KSI’s next fight before the man himself – but we’ll have to wait and see what KSI comes back with.