Sean Strickland has labeled Jake Paul’s fight with Mike Tyson as “pathetic” as the former UFC middleweight champion criticized the pair for coming up with a “game plan” to drum up interest in the fight.
Tyson and Paul will go head-to-head on July, 20 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the NFL‘s Dallas Cowboys.
The fight will be streamed live on Netflix, with the likes of Tyson Fury praising the bout as being “fantastic for boxing“.
Yet Strickland, 33, has disagreed with the Gypsy King, insisting that the 30-year age gap between the pair rules out any chance of a fair fight.
Sean Strickland hits out at Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson
Taking to social media, Strickland wrote: “Jake Paul and Mike Tyson game planning to hide the fact this is pathetic.
“So we have to make people believe you [Tyson] have a chance, we have to make people believe that you’re not 60 [sic, 57] and this is isn’t the most pathetic thing I’ve ever done”.”
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When put to him that Tyson has a “puncher’s chance”, Strickland was categorical in his reply.
“Naaa man,” he said. “He’s [Tyson’s] 60. You ever train with a 60-year-old?! Lmao I haven’t.”
Jake Paul and Mike Tyson game planning to hide the fact this is pathetic. "So we have to make people believe you have a chance, we have to make people believe that you're not 60 and this is isn't the most pathetic thing I've ever done"
— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) March 22, 2024
Strickland is not the only one who has been critical of the match-up between Paul and Tyson. Anthony Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, called the fight a “freak show” as he revealed that he may not even watch the bout.
Rumors that the fight would see Paul and Tyson were headguards threatened to derail interest in the fight, something that Paul admitted his frustration as to how the “absurd” news was spread in the first place.