Mike Tyson’s rule change has boxing legends backing him over Jake Paul

A former Mike Tyson rival has backed the boxing legend to beat Jake Paul as he believes the rule change for their fight will work in ‘Iron’ Mike’s favor. 

When Jake Paul and Mike Tyson first announced that they’d fight, there were plenty of rumors about the rules. At first, it seemed like it would be an exhibition due to Tyson’s age, but they’ve both pushed for professional rules. That means correctly weighted gloves and no headguards. 

However, instead of the usual set of ten rounds over three minutes, the pair will have eight rounds at two minutes. During the first press conference, Jake claimed that this was a request from Mike and urged the 58-year-old to change it to three-minute rounds. 

Well, Roy Jones Jr. – who ‘Iron’ Mike faced on his return to the ring back in 2020 – has backed his former rival to score the win over Jake thanks to this rule change. 

“That’s the real question, how much can Jake survive?” he told TalkSport. “That’s the real question because Mike has what it takes to get anyone out of there.

“And I’m going to tell you this, when I boxed him four years ago it was only two-minute rounds but surprisingly he didn’t decline, he stayed the same the whole fight. And that surprised me. If they are doing two-minute rounds then Mike is not going to tire out, I already know that because I watched him do that.”

The former light heavyweight king backed Tyson to win via a decision but believes he can knock Jake out if he wants to. 

Jake believes he has an ‘iron’ chin and isn’t worried about that. However, Jones Jr. isn’t the first former boxer to warn him about Mike’s power. 

Mike still has to get to fight night, however, as he is undergoing strenuous testing in the days beforehand.