Mike Tyson Prepping For Jake Paul Fight at Tool Singer Maynard James Keenan’s Martial Arts Gym

18 March, 2024

Mike Tyson has been chronicling his intense training in the lead-up to his fight with YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX on July 20. The bout, which will air on Netflix, will find the 57-year-old former undisputed heavyweight boxing champ taking on the 27-year-old Paul in Iron Mike’s first official fight in 19 years.

Though the famously hard-hitting champ has always shown formidable skills in the ring, he’s been training for the Paul fight with a little extra help from Tool singer Maynard James Keenan. The rocker posted pics with Tyson, who he said has been getting in shape working out at his Cottonwood, AZ Verde Valley BJJ martial arts school; Keenan, who co-founded the gym, earned his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in January.

“Honored to have @miketyson grace our small town academy, @verdevalleybjj . His Training Camp for @jakepaul vs @miketyson began under our roofl,” Keenan wrote on Instagram alongside a pic of him with his arm around Tyson, with the singer’s wife, Lei Li Keenan, on the other side. “Gonna be bragging about that for a bit. Long after y’all are tired of hearing about it. Deal w it,” Keenan added. A second shot featured Tyson and Keenan posing in the middle of the gym floor.

Tyson, a legendarily hard-hitting boxer with a career 50-6 record (including 44 knockouts), has been posting sweat-drenched videos of his intense workouts in the lead-up to his first trip back to the ring since his controversial draw against fellow former champ Roy Jones Jr. in Nov. 202 in an exhibition match. Tyson is 21 years from his last win and both men are expected to take home major paydays for the headline-grabbing showdown.

Former Bizaardvark star Paul has gone from YouTube prank videos to making Forbes’ list as one of the world’s highest-paid athletes thanks to an improbable 2018 pivot to boxing. Since then, Paul has fought a series of MMA fighters, former professional boxers and basketball players that has boosted him to a 9-1 record (6 by KO), with his one loss coming at the hands of the only active pugilist he’s faced to date, Tommy Fury, in Feb. 2023.

Expert troller Paul has been doing his part to hype the fight, posting a video on Sunday in which he appeared to have gotten his own version of Tyson’s infamous tribal face tattoo while biting down on a fake plastic ear in a reference to Tyson’s 1997 fight where he bit off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear.

Check out the pics of Tyson and Keenan and the promo video for the fight below.