Following the shocking news of an agreement between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. for an eight-round exhibition fight comes a showdown between YouTuber Jake Paul and former NBA point guard Nate Robinson.
Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated first reported that Paul and Robinson could square up as a part of the undercard of the Tyson-Jones Jr. headliner, and Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium is now confirming the bout:
Former NBA guard Nate Robinson and YouTube star Jake Paul make it official: They tell me they will be fighting Sept. 12 as an undercard to Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. in California. pic.twitter.com/ClEP64JZFp
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 23, 2020
If this sounds like something straight out of Fantasy Land, feast your eyes on this previous Jake Paul vs. Nate Robinson noise:
JAKE PAUL vs NATE ROBINSON???@jakepaul recently said that he has a fight announcement, @nate_robinson called out Jake on a TMZ interview a few weeks ago. Nate also responded to a post about Jake’s fight with “🤐”
Do you think this fight will happen? And if so, who you got? pic.twitter.com/26PuakMPJH
— YouTube Boxing 🥊 (@Youtube_Boxing_) July 22, 2020
The YouTuber and Robinson have a history, as the latter called out Jake Paul back in May:
“I want all the smoke,” Nate Robinson told TMZ Sports. “I’m a top-tier athlete! I’m putting my everything on the line for (Paul). Let’s get it done. It’s that simple.”
Robinson has no strong boxing background besides some offseason workouts, but the 5-foot-9 dynamo expressed confidence in his athleticism to pull out the win in a fight against Paul:
“If I get trained with somebody like a [Mike] Tyson, [Floyd] Mayweather, [Terence] Crawford, [Vasyl] Lomachenko, if I fight and I train with some of the best of the best in the world, like please, I don’t think he stands a chance.”
Tyson (50-6-2, 44 KO) will be too busy training for his own fight against another legend of the sport in Jones Jr. (66-9, 47 KO), as the two heavyweights will be the main attraction of the card.
Jake Paul stands at 6-foot-1 and is likely to have the reach advantage in this matchup, though Nate Robinson has a bevy of athletic achievements, including blocking the 7-foot-5 Yao Ming during an NBA game.
May the best come out with his hand raised.