Carl Froch has accused Jake Paul and Mike Tyson of “disrespecting” boxing by agreeing to fight – and hopes that Tyson “sees sense” before they do.
The apparently endlessly attention-seeking Paul and Tyson, 57, have agreed terms to fight on July 20 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where whether they will fight in an exhibition or sanctioned professional boxing match remains unclear.
Paul, 27, fought and won when he stopped Ryan Bourland in Puerto Rico earlier in March. Tyson retired from professional prizefighting in 2005 after successive defeats, but in November 2020 fought Roy Jones Jr – then 51 – in a distasteful exhibition that in so many respects captured the extent to which the world was struggling to adjust to the Covid pandemic.
That Froch retired in 2014 aged 36 with his health intact at the conclusion of a career that owed so much to his dedication and professionalism has done much to shape his life in retirement.
On Monday in central London he was the guest of honour at a lunch hosted by the Boxing Writers’ Club in respect of his Hall of Fame career, and off the back of how much of a mismatch proved Friday’s fight between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou, he revealed that it is instead the prospect of Paul-Tyson that represents his greatest concern.
“That clown, f****** Jake Paul, fighting Mike Tyson,” he said. “I’m gonna go on my [Froch On Fighting YouTube] channel and absolutely hammer Jake Paul very soon. Which I’ve done a few times. I’m gonna really hammer him. I’m also gonna give Mike Tyson a bit of stick.
“He’s always such a big name he’ll always be able to earn his own money, Mike Tyson – he doesn’t need to jump in with Jake Paul. And he’ll lose the fight, whether he means to lose or whether he actually gets beaten by someone 25, 26 years old – he’s nearly 60.
“It’s so disrespectful to our sport, to put somebody like Mike Tyson, who’s an icon of the sport, in with a performing clown like Jake Paul, who can’t fight. We saw he can’t fight against a novice in Tommy Fury; they come along and earn fortunes because they’ve got children following them. This demographic that follows Jake Paul – it’s not realistic. They can make money from it, but to fight Mike Tyson is disrespectful; it’s disgraceful. I’ll be putting him right – saying that. It’s wrong.
“I hope Mike Tyson sees sense. He’s very articulate at times, and he gives some good interviews and represents himself very well, but when you’re nearly 60 and you’re in that mindset, you don’t wanna be getting in the ring with a 20-something year old.”
There had previously been speculation about a fight between Paul and Froch, and most recently another prolific attention seeker, Tyson Fury’s father John, talked up a potential fight with the retired super middleweight.
“I’m not gonna get in the ring with John Fury,” he continued. “I wouldn’t do it. I’d do it for charity, and I’d make sure I’ve got 18oz gloves on, and I’d probably just throw arm punches on him – if it’d got to the point where he really wanted it to happen and we could raise some money for charity. Something like that would be nice to give back, but he’s not serious about it – he’s just a talker isn’t he, John Fury? I feel a bit sorry for him.
“It’s ridiculous this crossover fighting – this YouTube fighting – it’s not professional boxing. I keep saying it. We should be calling it ‘Play fighting’, not ‘Pro boxing’. For them to give [Francis] Ngannou a top-10 world ranking after the Fury fight – that was pathetic.
“‘AJ’ did to Ngannou what you would expect to happen against somebody making his second professional fight. He was in with somebody who’s a former two-time champion; an Olympic gold medallist. He just teed him up. He stood there, threw a lazy left jab for the second or third time, and AJ must have thought, ‘What is going on? Have I got a free hit here?’
“Boom. He hit him as hard as he could, and he landed – of course he landed.
“Purists who know the sport don’t look at that with any great seriousness.”