Mike Tyson’s ex-trainer reveals how star should handle Jake Paul fight & why YouTuber ‘will never be a champ boxer’

MIKE Tyson’s former trainer feels the boxing champ needs to knock Jake Paul out early; otherwise, he may lose his upcoming match with the YouTube star.

Ronnie Shields, who worked with the star during the early 2000s, says he’s confident Tyson, 58, can win the match, despite Paul being 31 years his junior.

The internet sensation is currently the slight favorite to win the fight, which will be streamed live on Netflix this Friday, November 15.

Ronnie feels the 27-year-old will still be knocked out, but only if Tyson manages to get him early.

Speaking exclusively to The U.S. Sun, he said, “I don’t see Jake Paul being able to take Mike’s punches early. I really don’t.

“If Mike can catch him clean, I think Mike can knock him out.

“But if Mike doesn’t catch him clean, it could be a long, hard eight rounds for Mike to go, and I don’t know if Mike can do eight hard rounds.

“It’s easy to do it in the gym, but it’s really hard to do it when you’re in a real fight, and at his age.

“I know Mike has been training. He feels good. But it’s different when you put on a 14-ounce glove. The gloves are going to be heavy after probably about two or three rounds. And that doesn’t favor Mike. That favors Jake Paul.

“Mike can punch with either hand, but if Mike doesn’t get him within three or four rounds, then I don’t see Mike doing much after that.”

Shields admits he thought the match was a joke when he first heard about it months ago as Paul continues to rattle the boxing world by getting into the ring.

He said, “At first I thought it was just all talk because I know Jake doesn’t have a lot of experience as far as boxing is concerned. He’s like a YouTuber, isn’t he? So I didn’t take it seriously at first. I was kind of surprised that he chose Mike Tyson. 

“I’ve seen highlights of what he’s been doing. To do what he’s doing, the people that he’s been fighting, yes, he has what it takes for that.

“But to be a serious heavyweight, no, absolutely not.  

“I don’t see him being a contender … fighting guys like Anthony Joshua, you know, Tyson Fury. I think those guys will murder him. 

“To do what he’s doing right now, I think is good, for himself. It’s not good for the sport of boxing though, because it can really give boxing a bad name.”

But Paul is still bringing a new generation of fans to the sport and millions of eyeballs due to his online popularity.

The pair will reportedly earn around $40 million each for the match, which will take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Asked if he thinks Tyson is only taking part for the money, Shields said, “Absolutely, it’s just the money. When someone comes up with a money grab like that, that’s hard to turn down, it really is.

“No matter how much money you have. You can’t turn that down, absolutely not. So he has to do it. I understand.”

‘BAD FOR BOXING’

And despite many fans being worried losing to Paul could tarnish his legacy, Shields doesn’t think a loss would affect him.

He said, “No, not at all. Because people are going to look at his age and say, Hey, you know, we support him, right? We know who Mike Tyson is.

“And he’s going to try to give people his best. That’s how Mike is. He’ll give everything he has. And if you only have four good rounds in him, that’s what you’re going to get. 

“I just hope that no one gets injured, of course, especially Mike.

“If he doesn’t look like he has it, I don’t want to see him take punishment. I hope the coroner would have a heart and say, ‘Mike, you gave it your all, like you always do. We’ll call it a day.'”

Despite surprising people with his wins since turning to boxing, Shields doesn’t feel beating Tyson will do much for Paul’s career.

“People will say hey, Mike’s 58 years old, man, what you expect?” he laughed.

“If he was to do that against a guy like a Tyson Fury then you got to give him a lot of props, but he’s not going to get in a ring with Tyson Fury.

“Mike is way past his prime, but Mike is always going to be a fighter. He’s going to spill it all in the ring, that’s what he does.

“It’s good for Mike, and it’s good for his health too, that he’s training now and getting himself in great shape. I think that’s fantastic.”

Shields said he loved working with Tyson before he retired 20 years ago and that Paul could still learn a lot from him.

“It was so good. I’ve always heard people talk about Mike, in the gym and stuff like that. But you don’t know until you’re there.  

“And my Mike is a historian. He could tell you about every fight that there ever was in a boxing ring.  

“And I’m talking about the old guys. He loved Muhammad Ali, I mean, we watched everybody. And he took a little bit from everybody. And that’s what I love about him.”

He suggests Paul does the same if he’s serious about being a professional boxer, adding, “Study from the greats, and be a student of the game.”

But he can’t see how Paul fighting will ever be good for the sport.

“If he did fight the real guys, it wouldn’t be good for them. People would say, ‘Your guys are elite fighters and he’s not an elite fighter. He didn’t deserve his way to get to that, to the level of fighting for the heavy-weight championship of the world.’

“It would be a black eye for boxing for sure if they were to put him up in the rankings like that.

“It would be a knock to all of the guys that worked so hard to try to get there.

“For this guy, because of the money he brings to the sport and his popularity, to skip over those guys.”

But Shields can’t deny he’s a great promoter, admitting, “He’s doing it the right way. He’s not dependent on anybody else to do it for him. He’s doing it himself. And that’s the respect I think the fighters are going to give him. 

He added that he’ll “without a doubt” be watching the fight this week and hopes Tyson comes out on top.