Mike Tyson confirms rules for fight against Jake Paul and fans aren't happy

Mike Tyson has confirmed an important rule about his upcoming bout against Jake Paul and boxing fans aren't best pleased.

If you've been following boxing then you'll almost certainly have heard that YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul will be stepping into the ring with Mike Tyson later on this year.

The 27-year-old will step into the ring at the AT&T Stadium in Texas with Tyson just a few weeks after the venerable former boxer turns 58.

Tyson's last fight was an exhibition against Roy Jones Jr in 2020, which was scored as a draw.

While there's been much anticipation of the fight there's also been concerns from boxing fans that they might be served up a 'sparring session' that's 'not gonna be a real fight'.

Now Tyson has confirmed an important detail about the fight, and it might not be what boxing fans wanted to hear.

Speaking to Fox News, he said: "This is called an exhibition, but if you look up exhibition, you won't see any of the laws we're fighting under.

"This is a fight. I don't think he's faster than me. I've seen a YouTube video of him at 16 doing weird dancing. That's not the guy I'm fighting.

"This is a guy who's going to try and hurt me, which I'm accustomed to, and he's going to be greatly mistaken.

"Right now, I'm scared to death. As the fight gets closer, the less nervous I become because it's reality, and in reality I'm invincible."

With Tyson confirming the fight will be an exhibition it means the result won't go on either boxer's record, and the rules of the fight are more flexible when it's an exhibition bout.

Exhibition fights can change the number of rounds and indeed the length of the rounds which make up the fight.

Boxing fans are hoping that despite it being an exhibition bout Paul vs Tyson sticks to 'real boxing rules' and is an 'actual fight where they can knock each other out'.

Someone else said 'ain't no one watching' while another dubbed the bout 'Logan Paul vs Floyd Mayweather again but with different fighters'.

If you remember the aftermath of that fight Mayweather was keen to stress 'there's a difference between a real fight and an exhibition' and claimed he'd have won by knockout in the first round had it been a 'real fight'.

Mike Tyson says the Jake Paul bout is an exhibition under “real fight” rules 👀 pic.twitter.com/N80quJ8D2g

— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) April 3, 2024

Ahead of the Paul vs Tyson fight, there have been rumours swirling around that rounds would last two minutes instead of three and the boxers would be throwing punches with 160z gloves.

Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of Paul's Most Valuable Promotions, recently hit out at the 'fake' claims over how the fight would go.

Meanwhile, Paul himself has had to shoot down claims that he'd get to wear headgear and tag his brother into the fight if things started going wrong, saying some of the things people were claiming about the fight were 'f**king absurd'.

Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul will take place on 20 July and will be streamed live on Netflix.