Jake Paul responds to claims he was holding back in fear of ‘hurting’ Mike Tyson in fight

Jake Paul has responded to claims he was holding back in his fight with Mike Tyson because he was worried about seriously hurting him. The 27 year old YouTuber won against the 58 year old retired professional boxer after eight rounds on 15th November.

Jake Paul admitted he was only trying to “hurt” boxing legend Mike Tyson “a little bit” after their controversial fight. Jake won on points instead of through a knockout like he’d previously said he was going to attempt.

During the fight on Friday, Jake was accused of holding back against Tyson and pulling his punches.

Jake was asked if that had been the case during his post-fight interview, and he admitted “I was trying to hurt him a little bit. I was scared he was going to hurt me, I was trying to hurt him…”

At the post-fight press conference, Jake was asked again if he’d gone easier on Mike in the last rounds, and he said: “Yeah, definitely, definitely a bit. I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt someone who didn’t need to be hurt.”

During the press conference, Paul also said he did not “feel Tyson’s power” at any point during the fight. Former professional boxer Tony Bellew took to Twitter to express his gratitude to Jake for showing Mike some “respect and dignity” by not going for the knockout.

I don’t like this stupid idiot kid but I will say this.. He stopped beating on Mike there and showed him some respect and dignity by letting him survive! He didn’t go for the KO there he stepped off him and let him be.. Mike we all adore you king your a super hero to all of us…

— Tony Bellew (@TonyBellew) November 16, 2024

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He wrote in a tweet: “I don’t like this stupid idiot kid but I will say this… He stopped beating Mike there and showed him some respect and dignity by letting him survive! He didn’t go for the KO there he stepped off him and let him be… Mike we all adore you king, you’re a superhero to all of us from the proper fight business!”

There also seems to be no bad blood between Jake and Mike after their controversial fight, and Jake even took to Twitter to thank him for “giving me a chance to share the ring with him.”

Thank you to every fighter on the card last night, thank u Netflix, thank u Jerry Jones, thank u to my MVP team, thank u to the legend Mike Tyson for giving me a chance to share the ring with him, thank u to my family and close circle of friends..and above all, thank you God

— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) November 16, 2024

Featured image via Ed Mulholland/INPHO/Shutterstock.