Lil Yachty and boxing phenom Gervonta Davis have vastly different perspectives on the fight which occurred between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson last year.
Lil Yachty recently sat down with the champion during the latest episode of A Safe Place Podcast for a conversation that turned into somewhat of a debate about both Paul’s legitimacy as a boxer and his controversial fight against Tyson.
While Yachty seemed open to viewing Paul as a boxer and the fight as a business move, Davis strongly disagreed, arguing that Tyson should never have taken the match due to his age and the physical risks involved. Yachty kicked off the discussion by asking Davis if he considered Jake Paul and his brother Logan real boxers.
Davis acknowledged Jake Paul’s dedication, saying, “I think it’s okay to call Jake Paul a boxer.”
He continued, “Only reason why I say that because he do be in a gym. He do like he’s working on stuff.”
Gervonta “Tank” Davis doesn’t believe that Jake Paul didn’t try to knock out Mike Tyson”
“Yes you did, you just couldn’t get the knockout”
🎥: @ASafePlacePod
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Despite giving Paul the distinction, he made it clear that he took issue with the way he approached the sport, especially in his fight against Mike Tyson.
“I don’t think he [Jake Paul] should have fought Mike Tyson only because of who Mike Tyson is and the age,” he said in part. “Like, you know, it’s a certain stuff you don’t do.”
He went on to claim that Paul attempted to knock Tyson out despite publicly stating otherwise, adding, “Yes, you did, you just couldn’t get the knockout.”
In response, Yachty challenged Davis on whether he saw the fight simply as a money-making opportunity, suggesting that both fighters had agreed to it willingly. Davis doubled down on his position, arguing that Tyson’s inner circle should have never let him take the fight in the first place.
“When you’ve been in a sport for so long and you at that age, it’s not really more left you have in your tank,” he explained. “It was somebody like we can make some money, so let’s do this and Mike Tyson was just okay agree with it type thing.”
He further drove his point home by referencing the physical toll the fight had on Tyson. “Jake Paul is a big guy,” he said. “He can hit. So if he cracked you good, right? You see if you go look at Mike Tyson, he said he ain’t 100% recover from that fight, right? Which is bringing his body down more.”
Yachty acknowledged that some fighters might see the payday as worth it, saying, “I mean some people probably just think it’s worth it. If you get the money for it, you know.”
Davis, however, was quick to dismiss that mindset, emphasizing, “But money ain’t everything.” He wrapped up his thoughts by sharing his own perspective as a fighter looking toward retirement. “That’s why I’m 30 years old trying to get out the sport, right?”
Watch the clip from the podcast in the post above.
