Remember when Jake Paul, the YouTuber-turned-boxer, defeated Mike ‘Iron’ Tyson, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time? In addition to the 72,300 people gathered at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, 65 million people had concurrently streamed and witnessed the bout globally. Compared to Paul’s youthful punches at 28 years old, Kid Dynamite at 58 was outperformed, despite showing signs of his former champion form. So far it appears to be Tyson’s last fight. But as they say, history repeats itself. Nico Ali Walsh, despite turning down Paul’s multi-million dollar offer for a face-off, may finally agree to meet him in the ring. Why, you may ask? Let’s see…
Sure, he had his reasons to refuse the bout. In his eyes, Paul is not a true boxer, with little respect for the sport. “I’m fighting for my bloodline and he’s fighting for headlines. That’s the difference between me and him,” the 10-2 boxer had said. “Morally it was an easy choice, I said no before I even heard the numbers. Of course, that would be money that I’ve never made in my career. But is everything really money? That’s how I was raised. I’m an Ali, I hold my name in such higher weight, I don’t believe I should be playing in the mud with the likes of Jake Paul.” Despite that, the tables now seem to have turned.
Hours ago, Jake Paul posted an Instagram reel on his handle, showcasing a carousel captioned: “Something’s coming .” And now, Nico Ali went on to drop an Instagram story that read: “Next fight is May 10th !! I’ll be dropping the fight poster soon.” Apart from throwing arrows in the dark, there are a few rumors that back the possibility of a potential bout.
Top Boxing News, on its X handle, dropped a post saying, “Jake Paul and Nico Ali Walsh could fight at the end of May, as both fighters have teased their next fight being announced this week.” A similar post came from Sam on his X handle @SamuelkoXd, “Jake Paul sent him contract maybe 2 years ago. But Nico didn’t accept it cuz he wanted to fight top ranked fighters. After PaulTyson, Nico said he would avenge Tyson, maybe thats next. Promotion would do great for Netflix cuz Niko is Ali’s grandson. He is 24 and he is a real boxer.”
Jake Paul sent him contract maybe 2 years ago but Nico didn’t accept it cuz he wanted to fight top ranked fighters, after PaulTyson,Nico said he would avenge Tyson,maybe thats next,promotion would do great for netflix cuz Niko is Ali’s grandson he is 24 and he is a real boxer, pic.twitter.com/dfkBlioYiF
— Sam (@SamuelkoXd) April 2, 2025
The attachments also show the fight poster, a picture of Nico Ali training captioned “Fight announcement soon,” and a screenshot of Jake Paul’s comment from his Instagram account: “Almost time to announce the next one.” Both the fighters dropped in teasers within the same week. Coincident? Fans would hope not. In fact, there is a very strong reason why the bout is fueled to happen.
Jake Paul-Nico Ali Walsh ringing the same bells from the past
While Jake Paul might be challenging the Top Rank-promoted boxer just for the sake of gaining fame, Nico Ali has powerful reasons to move ahead. That’s what his uncle Mike Tyson did to avenge Muhammad Ali’s defeat to Larry Holmes. And to pay back the favor, he would do the same. Sharing a touching post on Instagram, Walsh reminisced about the historical event when Tyson aggressively threw punches and won by TKO.
The post shared had Tyson narrating what unfolded: “It’s October 2nd, 1980, Ali fights Larry Holmes. After that fight, we all went to our rooms, we never talked. The next morning, [Tyson’s trainer Cus D’Amato] is on the phone with Muhammad Ali. Cus is calling Larry Holmes so many bad [things], ‘How do you let that bum hit on you champ, Ali… I was crying.’ He said, ‘I have a 14-year-old kid. He’s gonna be the heavyweight champ of the world, his name is Mike Tyson.’ January 22nd, I’m fighting [Larry Holmes]. Then Ali comes in the ring and says, ‘Get him for me.” And boy, Tyson did!
If Mike Tysons asks, Walsh would be more than happy to avenge the loss to Paul. Just like Tyson did for his grandfather. After all, for the caption of the above-shared post, Nico Ali Walsh wrote: “Love you Mike.”
What do you think about a matchup between Paul and Nico Ali? Could it be just rumors or was this clearly an alert to the showdown waiting to happen?
The post Boxing Rumors: Mike Tyson Greenlights Muhammad Ali’s Grandson’s Plan to Avenge Jake Paul Loss appeared first on EssentiallySports.
