Amir Khan made a vow before Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul (Image: Getty)
Amir Khan vowed to “slap” if he defeated , though it’s unclear whether he intends to follow through. Last weekend, Paul secured a over Tyson in front of 72,000 fans at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, with tens of millions more watching on .
The controversial bout failed to live up to the hype, with ‘Iron Mike’ fading physically after just two rounds amid a general lack of drama. Nonetheless, it caught the world’s attention, with 58-year-old Tyson taking on a man 31 years his junior in his first professional fight in nearly two decades.
ahead of the contest, British icon Khan said he’d like to “give him [Paul] a little slap and sort him out” should he triumph over ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’. “Mike is a friend of mine, and I FaceTime him, and we speak, but when you’ve got a 58-year-old man fighting a young, at-his-peak fighter, you do feel sorry,” Khan, 37, said.
“But you can’t feel too sorry for Mike Tyson because he’s taken that chance. It’s a tough one that is but I wouldn’t want to jump in the ring.
“At the end of the day it’s Mike’s decision to go in the ring and fight. If he gets beat, you want to protect your friend and jump in and say I’ll give a beating for him, so if he beats Mike Tyson, yeah, definitely I’d like to give him a little slap and sort him out.”
Whether Paul, 27, would be up for fighting Khan is anyone’s guess, though the Bolton-born former pro may have to wait in line. The likes of and Tony Bellew have challenged ‘The Problem Child’ to a scrap, as has IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois, who toppled in a thrilling clash at Wembley Stadium in September.
Jake Paul beat Mike Tyson on points last weekend (Image: Getty)
On X, Paul from Dubois, which read: “Hi Jake. Good business on the weekend but how would you feel fighting for the legitimate heavyweight championship of the world? This is Daniel Dubois calling you out. Let’s get it on.”
In response, Paul sent back an image of a tape measure alongside the message: “Get in line.” He then added: “Man been boxing for 12 years, has over 100 fights between amateur and pro and fought on my undercard… hahaha. But f**k it… I’m going to have Nakisa talk to Frankie Warren and get you in line for the throne. Unlike Artur, at least you have a few thousand fans.”
It remains to be seen whether Paul will actually step into the ring with Dubois, 27, particularly given the YouTuber’s history of selecting opponents who aren’t career boxers. That said, last year he insisted he had dreams of becoming a world champion, and fighting Dubois would give him the chance to do just that.
Daniel Dubois has called Jake Paul out, and it looks like the American has accepted the challenge (Image: Getty)
“I’m going to become a world champion and these fights are all just stepping stones to get there,” Paul said in 2023. “I’m slowly improving. I’ve sparred against world champions and done phenomenal against them, so who knows what can happen in two to three years from now when I go into my athletic prime? I’m starting to really, really get this sport and all aspects of it.
“It’s really actually scary what could possibly happen. I think not only will I become a world champion, I think I will be a dominant world champion and knock someone out for the belt.”
So far, 11 of Paul’s 12 professional fights have been against fellow content creators, MMA stars or, in Tyson’s case, previously retired boxers. The one and only established career boxer the Ohio native has faced is , who beat him via split decision in February 2023.