The clock ticks towards November 15th – possibly the biggest boxing event of the year. Jake Paul taking on the 'Baddest Man on the Planet' – the legend that is Mike Tyson.
Ahead of this fight, we sat down with one of the faces of Misfits boxing, Jake Paul's former sparring partner, Anthony Taylor.
We spoke with the Misfits Light Heavyweight champion on his next fight, Salt Papi, King Kenny and his advice to Jake Paul ahead of his bout with Mike Tyson.
As of writing, Jake Paul is currently favorite (-275) at DraftKings.
Key Takeaways:
- I love the match up with Darren Till and I would knock him out in the second round.
- Chris Eubank Jr is punch drunk, I can give him a really big beating.
- King Kenny and Salt Papi are children who don't know their place.
- Tyson vs Paul is too close to call, but Jake should have fun.
Q: Following your victory against Silva, who do you want to fight next? You called out Darren Till after your last fight – could there be something happening there?
Anthony Taylor: People's views on that fight are very interesting.
I wanna fight Darren Till. Darren Till wants to fight me, but I'm not sure about the negotiations going on between him and Misfits. I stay out of that one, you know? That's not my job to negotiate on Misfits' behalf, on Darren Till's behalf.
So whatever Misfits and Darren Till negotiate, then fine. But if the fight doesn't happen or gets done, then I'm okay with that. There's so many other fighters out there that'd be willing to fight me as long as it makes sense to the company of Misfits, Mams Taylor, Nisse and KSI.
Q: If the fight vs Darren Till was to happen, how do you think it would go? What round would you knock him out in?
AT: 2nd round. I'll get him out in the 2nd round for sure.
A lot of people don’t understand Darren Till. He chats a lot of stuff on the Internet, but the guy can actually fight.
He's a natural kickboxer. He's naturally a heavier dude. The guy can fight. He's comfortable striking. He prefers to strike.
So that's where people are underestimating Darren Till on how he fights.
I love the matchup. The fans love the matchup, and the matchup needs to happen either now or in the near future.
But there's also other people that I would love to fight.
Anderson Silva, KSI, Gib, Slim, and maybe a future rematch with Tommy Fury, if that ever happens.
But those are some of the matchups, I can't forget Floyd Mayweather (for a potential fight), those are reasonable and attainable matchups that can possibly happen.
Q: One name you didn't mention, but I saw you call out on Twitter. Chris Eubank Jr?
AT: Absolutely. Thank you for bringing that up! I would love to fight Chris Eubank Jr. I wanna see where I'm at with my skill set.
I'm 35. I personally don't care about age. I'm here for a good scrap and a good fight.
I think fighting Chris Eubank junior will be a good fight. I think I personally feel like I would beat him.
He's way past his prime. See, he's punch drunk, and I think I can give him a really big beating.
I'm confident I can beat him up. I'm totally confident, and I know I can beat him up with a great camp.
Q: On your tweets. I saw you tweeted with, that you were sparring with, like, a 3 time heavyweight champion. Can you reveal who that is?
AT:I can’t reveal that!
But just know I have a lot of people in my camp that I'm prepared for. I walk around at 195lbs, so I'm able to spar big guys like that. I'm able to spar a little guy, I'm able to fluctuate between up and down weight, which is an advantage for me even though I stand at 5 '6, 5' 7. But it's definitely an advantage for myself when it comes to fighting.
I love it. I love boxing. Leaving MMA was probably the best decision financially in my life because I knew where I was going, as far as finance when it came to the sport of boxing.
And don't get me wrong. I love MMA, but I just happen to fall into a great position in my life, where I'm at in my life, to say I can retire on my own terms whenever I want.
Q: Would we ever see you return to MMA?
AT:Oh, who knows? You know? I would definitely fight Paul Hughes.
Paul Hughes is definitely somebody I’d fight if I do come back to MMA.
He beat my teammate, AJ McKee. Paul Hughes is the guy I wanna fight.
Q: You beat both Salt Papi and King Kenny – they recently said on social media they thought they’d beat you in a rematch. Did you see these comments? What did you make of them?
AT:Let the children play. Children are going to talk. Let them talk and let them play.
Because at the end of the day, we're adults. We know what's really going on. They don't know their place. So sometimes we gotta put them in their places.
But when it comes to Salt and Kenny, I think I showed that I have diversity in my game of boxing when it comes to my skills. I can clinch. I know how to neutralize their best weapons. I know how to box when needed. I know how to score points.
I know how to win, man. That's my job. I know how to win. So just because I fought them the same, just because I beat them the way I beat them, doesn't mean I'm going to fight them the same way I did the first time. They're going to adapt. I'm going to adapt.
Because a fool who sticks to the same thing over and over is going to always stay a fool. I'm no fool. I've been around the fight game for a long time, and I know that you are just as good as your last fight, but you're going to be better. Because, mentally, you're gonna be better.
Physically, you're gonna be better. And spiritually, you're going to be better as a person and as a fighter. So I'm looking forward to seeing those 2 fights, but I'm also looking forward to seeing them 2 step in the ring with me eventually if they ever do.
Q: You founded the Creator Fight League – what's your vision of where it could go? It looks like a really exciting project.
AT:Creator Fight League (CFL), man. It's very interesting because we've done so much within 1 year. We're going on our 3rd event.
Creator Fight League is kinda like the NXT to Misfits, the development league. We're here to funnel out the talent, to build talent.
As you saw, Jenny Savage versus Elle Brook, main event. Jenny Savage started off on CFL. So a lot of people don't know that, but now they know. My job is to build talent. When I say build talent, building a storyline.
Are you a good guy, baby face, or whatever you wanna call it? My job is to make sure that you have star power.
A lot of these guys coming into Misfits, they're asking for $100,000, $200,000. Okay. If you say that you're worth that, go to Creator Fight League, and let's see what type of buzz you create for yourself.
Who are you? How do we know you deserve $100K, $200K? Let's build a storyline. Also, there's a lot of contracted fighters who are signed to Misfits, who can't always get on every Misfits show.
I'm fortunate to be on damn near every single misfits show because of my hard work, my tenacity, my enthusiasm, and I'm a great person to work with.
But let's bring these fighters in. These are the storylines I wanna have. This is what I wanna tell. This is what I wanna build. I've always been in entertainment. I'm probably going to finish my career off by being an actor. But, overall, I want to build the next star and send them to Misfits.
Q: You were previously Jake Paul's sparring partner. How do you think he's preparing for the fight against Tyson?
AT:That's not the Jake Paul I know anymore. He's a different man now. I'm a different man now.
Skill sets, mindsets, everything has changed. He's not the same person as he was.
Fighting Mike Tyson is going to be hard to watch in a sense because we don't know what type of person he's fighting. Obviously, Mike Tyson wasn't the same when he lost to Lennox Lewis. He was clearly washed up.
So we don't understand what type of person he's fighting.
I can't really say who's going to win because Jake does good things in the ring especially for his age.
But Mike Tyson's a lot older. Mike Tyson's like one of those guys. Like, we always knew somebody growing up who dad was just so mean, big, and buff. And we knew even if you were an adult, your dad would still kick your ass!
It's like one of those things we don't know. And when it comes to Tyson, now it's hard to say,
If Tyson had more time, let's say Tyson was training for about a year and a half, straight boxing training.
That's a dangerous person right there because now he's going to slowly gain his speed.
We don't know what type of Tyson we're getting. But I also don't know what type of person Jake Paul is.
But it's more of: are you going to come to work on time? Are you in shape? Are you ready to fight? Mike Tyson is not that he's not that mean guy he was.
A lot of people don’t know he's a father first. He's a man of God. So we forget to put those things into perspective. He is a family man now. He's not where he's just a solo dolo guy, saying ‘It’s all me, I'm here for destruction’.
No. He left that path a long time ago. So that's what I'm saying – I don't know what we're going to get in this fight.
But I'm going to support it and watch it because Mike Tyson is one of my biggest boxing heroes, and Jake Paul is my boy.
Q: Do you have any advice for Jake Paul going into the fight?
AT:My only advice is to have fun. Bro, you're making millions of dollars.
Have fun. I guarantee you everybody in the world who is a professional boxer would say, I would love to share the ring with Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, Floyd Mayweather, Roy Jones Jr – this is just how it is.
Mike Tyson probably was saying to his younger self: ‘ I would love to share the ring with Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Archie Moore, George Foreman, Joe Frazier.’
Of course, everyone is going to look forward to this, because we all love Mike Tyson.
Q: KSI predicted that Tyson will get destroyed, but also that Jake Paul looked sluggish…what do you make of his comments?
AT:I would just say these 2 guys bantering one another at another.
No one knows the outcome is gonna happen. Let's say Jake Paul goes in there and destroys Mike Tyson. We can all sit here and say, well: ‘I told you Mike Tyson is old. Jake is younger.’
Tyson goes in there and destroys Jake. ‘Look. I told you Mike Tyson's nobody to play with. Look what he just did to Jake.’ No one's going to be satisfied, but the outcome is still going to be the same.
Jake beats Tyson. Jake is considered the younger fighting an old guy. Tyson beats Jake. Tyson is considered still dangerous.
‘Why are you messing with this man?’ It's still going to come to the same outcome as what I just told you right there. That's going to be the same outcome.
‘Oh my gosh. Jake's just sparked Tyson. Jake should not be fighting Mike Tyson. Oh my gosh. Mike Tyson just brutally knocked out Jake. Why would Jake even step in a ring with this mad man?’
Mike Tyson, he's known for stuff like this. It's going to be the same outcome.
This interview was intended to entertain sports fans and avid bettors alike. Bettors who might also be interested in checking out these bet365 Bonus Code and PrizePicks Promo Code pages.
