Mike Perry is revelling in the role of Jake Paul’s next opponent in the boxing ring.
The former UFC welterweight, who is a 5-0 sensation in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, will step in for boxing icon Mike Tyson on July 20 in Tampa, Florida in what is a hastily-arranged fight after Tyson withdrew from their bout (which was to be in the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on the same date) after experiencing medical issues reportedly related an ulcer condition.
And now, some two or so years after a hotly-debated sparring sessions between the two that both claim to have gotten the best of one another, they will settle their differences under boxing rules — and Perry is certain he will come out on top.
“Maybe I’ll still be passionate after I beat on Jake, I want to TKO him or knock him out or just pummel him so bad in the corner,” Perry said in the Overdogs podcast, as noted by Bloody Elbow.
“I’ll put so much pressure on him that he just has to take a knee and he’s like ‘damn, what am I going to do?’ We’ll keep putting it on him and put the hooks on him and then get on that microphone and be p*ssed off.
“Or I’ll be tired in the seventh or eight round and get that microphone and be like ‘hey man, thank you everybody for coming out’. I think about it all the time ‘what am I going to say to the people after I win?’ That’s what I think about all the time.”
Perry, though, says he has earned his spot in the limelight — not least because of a run in bare-knuckle boxing that has seen him defeat former UFC champions Eddie Alvarez and Luke Rockhold, as well as the well-regarded striker Michael ‘Venom’ Page and, most recently, former UFC welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves.
“I think I’ve earned this and I think I deserve it and I’m proud of that of myself,” he said. “There’s work to be done, I have a lot of work to do, push-ups and miles to run and I’ve got to get this work in. Lots of sparring rounds to do.
“I just take it a day at a time and all glory to God, he gives me the strength to wake up every day and get stronger. Whatever that means, I forgot to ask Jake if he’s a religious man, but that’s okay.
“I don’t want to have a reason to like him. I want to hurt him, I don’t hate him but my game plan right now is to put that pain on him.”
