Lennox Lewis rips into ‘farce’ Jake Paul bout – at same time as arranging fight with Mike Tyson at combined age of 109
LENNOX LEWIS has ripped into Jake Paul's 'farce' of a fight with Ben Askren – at the time as arranging his rematch with Mike Tyson.
The heavyweight boxing legend, 55, took a swipe at the American YouTuber for 'pretending' to be a professional.
Lewis embarked on a furious Twitter rampage after it emerged Triller – who hosted Paul's recent win over Askren – was suing illegal streamers to the tune of £72million ($100m).
The 1988 Olympic gold medallist claimed illegal streaming was inevitable given their target audience were too young to afford the £36 ($50) PPV fee.
Quote-tweeting an article about Triller suing, Lewis wrote: "What did they expect?
"The majority of the marketing was on social media targeting teenagers.
"Do teenagers really have $50 for PPV?"
When one Twitter user replied by saying YouTubers fighting pro fighters was 'ridiculous', Lewis hit back: "Name 1 youtuber that has faced a #professional boxer?"
After being reminded Paul is a licensed professional, Lewis took yet another swipe at the 'farce'.
He wrote: "Now we are getting to the root of the problem.
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"Licensed as a professional boxer with a record of NOT fighting a boxer.
"This is the farce not my beloved #boxing."
In a separate post, Lewis added he fears a YouTuber or 'pretend' boxer could get seriously hurt one day.
He wrote: "Anyone can get a license doesn’t mean they are boxer with skills.
"Recipe for disaster when someone gets hurt."
Lewis recently confirmed he is preparing for an exhibition fight with Tyson – 19 years after they fought as pros – with the veterans having a combined age of 109.
And when one tweeter pointed out the irony of him getting back in the ring himself at the age of 55, Lewis hit back saying he's not claiming to be a pro any more.
Lewis tweeted: "Skewing the topic eh.. my whole thread/topic is about pretenders.
"Now some people can’t separate the meaning of retired boxers #exhibition from pro boxers match.
"No retired boxer is actually fighting as a professional. Why is this so hard to conceptualise?"
Lewis is set to fight Tyson for a second time in September following Iron Mike's comeback draw with Roy Jones Jr last November.
Tyson had been in talks to fight Evander Holyfield in what would have been their third fight, before they collapsed after they failed to agree on the financial aspects of the deal.
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