Oscar De La Hoya Warns Mike Tyson to 'Be Careful' Against Jake Paul

When the upcoming bout between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson was made official, there was no shortage of shocked observers. Count Oscar De La Hoya among them.

In an interview with Sportsnaut, the former six-division boxing champion expressed his concern for the soon-to-be 58-year-old Mike Tyson as he prepares to face the much younger social media influencer turned prizefighter.

“It’s going to be an event. It’s going to be an entertaining event. I think that Jake Paul is obviously going to come out swinging and he’s taking this fight serious. And you know Mike Tyson is too. But Mike Tyson is, what, 60 years old. He has to be careful.”

“Where I’m concerned is when the fight goes – let’s say over four rounds and conditioning starts to kick in.  The age starts to kick in for Mike Tyson,” De La Hoya said. “Jake Paul is like 27 or 28 years old. He’s young. He’s strong. He’s going to come at him with everything. So that’s my only concern,” he continued.

Despite his concern for Mike Tyson, the Golden Boy Promotions CEO sees the benefit of this style of celebrity matchmaking. “I’m not critiquing this fight…I actually think it’s great because you’re going to get a whole different audience, more eyeballs, new eyeballs to the game of boxing,” De La Hoya said.

Besides the possible ripple effect on boxing itself, De La Hoya understands the financial win for all parties involved and is “happy for them. They’re making a lot of money.”

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