It seems boxing was spared a bizarre twist when instead of the fighter himself – a living legend – his son called out a rising star and a self-proclaimed disruptor of the sport. The dramatic turn of events involved Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.

Years before the duo participated in a bout that proved both controversial and a huge commercial success, Mike Tyson‘s eldest son Amir Tyson had called out Paul, who was still trying to find his footing in the boxing world through fights mostly against opponents with questionable boxing credentials. Speaking on the We’re Not Famous podcast, Amir explained the reasons that led him to challenge the YouTuber-turned-fighter.

“Dog, the thing about the Paul brothers, I’m going to keep it 100,” Amir Tyson said. “You know what I’m saying? I’m always going to keep everything 100 with you. When I saw him fight Nate Robinson, I was like, ‘This guy’s a bit*h This guy’s fighting people older, smaller, and all that shit.’ So, from the get-go, I didn’t even know who he was before that because he was on my dad’s undercard with Roy Jones. And I’m good. I’m going to say, ‘This guy’s a punk for that sh*t.'”

The timeline Amir was referring to dates back to November 28, 2020, when Iron Mike and Roy Jones clashed in a heavyweight exhibition. The co-main event featured Jake Paul facing former NBA player Nate Robinson. Coming off a knockout win over fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib earlier that year, Paul was 23 while Robinson was 36, which likely explains Amir Tyson’s frustration.

That criticism would continue to follow Paul as his boxing career developed. Even the Mike Tyson bout, which saw the then-58-year-old former heavyweight champion face off against Paul, thirty years his junior, and the fight that followed against former world title holder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., renewed questions about the level of opposition Paul chose to face.

While Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. was a major pay-per-view attraction, by having his fight on that card and as a co-main event, Paul clearly stood to benefit from the massive audience Tyson and Jones Jr. attracted, which would, in turn, help push his fledgling boxing career further into the mainstream.

Amir, however, viewed the situation differently. He felt that Paul, despite being close to his father, was positioning himself around Tyson because of the legitimacy and visibility it could bring to his own boxing career.

“They were tight. But, like, I didn’t like that either because he’s my same age, right?” He said. “It made me feel a type of way. You know what I mean? Because you know, I and my dad, you know, we’re great now, but like we’ve had issues in the past. I didn’t like it. Rubbed me the wrong way. You know what I’m saying? Because I’m like, we’re the same age. You know what I’m saying? And then I knew what he was doing because I saw the matchmaking. He was fighting a basketball player that’s never had a fight in his life.”

As Mike Tyson’s son, Amir soon became skeptical of Jake Paul’s motives and wondered whether the Cleveland native genuinely wanted a friendship with his father or whether he saw value in being associated with Tyson. Feeling that the behavior was insincere, Amir called him out, a move that quickly gained traction online.

Amir later claimed he was prepared to begin training for a potential fight. However, the idea never progressed, as Paul instead expressed admiration for Iron Mike and indicated that he had no interest in fighting someone he considered part of the Tyson family.

The rare case of a son avenging a father’s ring defeat

Against that backdrop one can only wonder how a clash between Amir Tyson and Jake Paul might have unfolded. Whether such a fight would have been competitive is another question.

A broadcast journalism graduate, Amir works as an entrepreneur and sportscaster who frequently serves as a fight commentator. While reports indicate he picked up boxing fundamentals from his legendary father, it remains uncertain whether that would have translated into a skill set sufficient to challenge even someone like Paul, who, despite criticism of his resume, has steadily improved through years of learning and competition.

Although the matchup never materialized, boxing history has occasionally produced similar father-son storylines.

One of the most notable involved Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., whom Paul outboxed last year.

In one of the final chapters of his storied career, Julio Cesar Chavez suffered an unexpected defeat against Grover Wiley in 2005, bringing his time in the professional ranks to a close. The loss, however, did not end the family’s connection to Wiley.

Two years later, Chavez Jr. stepped into the ring with the same opponent and produced a far different result, stopping Wiley inside three rounds and providing a measure of redemption for the Chavez family.

Amir Tyson’s story ultimately took a different path. Rather than leading to a fight, the tension gradually faded with time. In a twist few would have predicted when the callout surfaced, Amir later served on the commentary team for Mike Tyson’s fight against Jake Paul, suggesting that whatever frustrations once existed had long since cooled.