Eddie Hearn reveals he will boycott Mike Tyson’s controversial fight with Jake Paul as he labels the bout a ‘huge shame’

Eddie Hearn has revealed that he will leave the November Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson event before the bout gets underway.

Tyson, a former heavyweight world champion, will return to the ring 19 years after his last bout to face 27-year-old Youtuber turned boxer Paul.

The controversial fight will be contended at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, USA, with the rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano before it as the co-main event.

Hearn will attend the event on November 15 but will leave the stadium before Paul and Tyson lay gloves on each other.

‘I think it’s a huge shame that one of the biggest legends of the sport comes back 20 years after everybody knew he shouldn’t be boxing anymore,’ Hearn told TalkSport online boxing editor, Michael Benson.

Tyson and Paul are separated by 31 years and will take to the ring in Texas on November 15

Hearn will watch Katie Taylor (left) fight Amando Serrano (right) and then leave the event

‘At 55 or however old he is. He’s 58? Jesus Christ, he’s nearly 60. Like, you have no respect for the sport of boxing if you put Mike Tyson in a ring at 58 years of age.

‘And if he gets hurt, then it’s on those people. I’ll watch Katie Taylor and then I’ll leave. I can’t watch that.’

The fight between ‘Iron Mike’ and Paul was set to take place on July 20, but the bout had to be postponed due to Tyson’s health issues.

Tyson, who was once known as the ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’, got an ulcer two months before the original date due to eating ‘bad foods’.

However, the former undisputed heavyweight champion is now prepared to face Paul who is 31 years his junior, and believes it will have no impact on his legacy.

‘I didn’t take this fight for legacy,’ he told MailOnline. ‘I think legacy really, to my perspective, legacy is ego. Who gives a f*** how people think about them when they are gone?

‘I’m dead. I can’t value what somebody might think about me when I’m dead, so it means nothing to me.’

Tyson burst onto the scene becoming the youngest-ever heavyweight champion in 1986 aged 20, before retiring in 2005.

Hearn believes that Paul should feel ’embarrassed’ by the idea of fighting the aging Tyson

However he did step back into the ring to fight fellow veteran Roy Jones Jnr in an exhibition match in 2020, which ended in a split draw.

And Hearn believes that Paul should feel uncomfortable with fighting a legend who won his first world title 11 years before he was born.

‘If I was Jake Paul I’d just feel a little bit embarrassed, to be honest with you. It’s a liberty,’ Hearn told the BBC. ‘This is dangerous, irresponsible, and, in my opinion, disrespectful to the sport of boxing.

‘Everybody loves a dollar bill, including me, but sometimes the green-eyed monster can make you some bad decisions – and I think this is one of them.’