British boxing icon Amir Khan vowed to “slap” Jake Paul if he managed to defeat Mike Tyson, though it’s unclear whether he intends to act on his pledge.

On Saturday, Paul clinched a unanimous points win over Tyson at the packed AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with a global audience of tens of millions tuning in via Netflix. The highly-anticipated clash didn’t quite live up to the hype, with ‘Iron Mike’ showing signs of fatigue early on and the overall event lacking the anticipated drama.

Nevertheless, it captured worldwide attention as 58-year old-Tyson stepped back into the ring against an opponent 31 years his junior, marking his first professional bout in almost 20 years. Before the fight, former boxing champion Khan expressed his desire to “give him [Paul] a little slap and sort him out” if he emerged victorious against Tyson, whom Khan considers a friend.

“Mike is a friend of mine, and I FaceTime him, and we speak, but when you’ve got a 58-year-old man fighting a young, at-his-peak fighter, you do feel sorry,” said the 37-year-old. “But you can’t feel too sorry for Mike Tyson because he’s taken that chance. It’s a tough one that is but I wouldn’t want to jump in the ring.

“At the end of the day it’s Mike’s decision to go in the ring and fight. If he gets beat, you want to protect your friend and jump in and say I’ll give a beating for him, so if he beats Mike Tyson, yeah, definitely I’d like to give him a little slap and sort him out.”

Whether Paul, 27, will actually fight Khan is anyone’s guess, though it looks as if the Brit will have to wait in line, particularly with fellow retired English boxing stars Carl Froch, Tony Bellew and current IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois all calling the YouTuber out in recent days.

Dubois, also 27, threw down the gauntlet in a message to Paul stating: “Hi Jake. Good business on the weekend but how would you feel fighting for the legitimate heavyweight championship of the world? This is Daniel Dubois calling you out. Let’s get it on.”

Amir Khan (L) and Mike Tyson

Amir Khan (L) and Mike Tyson have been friends for years

Paul’s retort came in the form of an image featuring a tape measure, captioned: “Get in line.” He didn’t stop there, going on to say: “Man been boxing for 12 years, has over 100 fights between amateur and pro and fought on my undercard… hahaha. But f**k it… I’m going to have Nakisa talk to Frankie Warren and get you in line for the throne. Unlike Artur, at least you have a few thousand fans.”

While there’s uncertainty if Paul will face off with a ‘true’ heavyweight like Dubois, who recently secured a win over Anthony Joshua, he did state ambitions last year of aiming for a world title, which facing Dubois could potentially help him achieve.

IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois

IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois has called Jake Paul out ( 

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(Image: Getty))

“I’m going to become a world champion and these fights are all just stepping stones to get there,” he said in 2023. “I’m slowly improving. I’ve sparred against world champions and done phenomenal against them, so who knows what can happen in two to three years from now when I go into my athletic prime? I’m starting to really, really get this sport and all aspects of it.

“It’s really actually scary what could possibly happen. I think not only will I become a world champion, I think I will be a dominant world champion and knock someone out for the belt.”

To date, Paul has mostly faced off against other content creators, MMA fighters, or retired boxers like Tyson in his professional bouts. The only legitimate professional boxer he has gone up against is Tommy Fury, who handed him a split decision defeat in February 2023.