‘First Round KO’

Rafael Cordeiro knows exactly how fast and strong Mike Tyson still is, and he doesn’t expect Jake Paul to last long against the 57 year old legend.

If anyone knows how well Mike Tyson’s punching power has held up over the years, it’s Rafael Cordeiro.

The former Chute Boxe coach and Kings MMA founder worked with Tyson for his exhibition bout against Roy Jones Jr. and is training “Iron Mike” for his upcoming July 20th boxing match with Jake Paul. He’s the guy you always see in recent Tyson sparring footage holding the mitts. He confirmed that being a human punching bag for the legendary boxer is as intense as you’d imagine.

“It messed with my shoulder, I couldn’t hold mitts for at least six, seven months,” Cordeiro said in an interview with The MMA Hour. “My right shoulder was a big, big mess, and I stopped for a while to take care of my shoulder and do physical therapy.”

Many have noted that the footage we’ve seen of Tyson is heavily edited. There’s never more than a second of consecutive video, it’s all clips chained together to show only the most explosive moments of his training. At 57 years old, fans are worried about Tyson getting tired against Paul, and then getting hurt.

“I believe people don’t have to be concerned,” Cordeiro said about people’s concerns. “We’re talking about a guy who was a two-time champ. The guy didn’t have 20 fights in two years. He knows how to fight. He fought against the best guys in the world. When he steps inside the ring, he knows what to do. It’s not something new for Mike, and this fight is no different.”

“He works hard every single day to go there and try his best to knock Jake out. This is simply his style. Nobody has to teach Mike Tyson how to fight, and he’s going to prove in July, he’s still the same.”

The Tyson we saw in the ring with Roy Jones Jr. was a far cry from the monster that terrorized heavyweight through the 80s and 90s. But that was an exhibition match between two aged legends. No one was trying to flatline the other guy. Against Jake Paul, Cordeiro says things will be different.

“Mike is going to step in the ring as the old Mike Tyson, and he’s going to try to knock Jake out from the beginning to the end,” he said. “The only thing I can guarantee: Mike is going to touch Jake. It’s going to be impossible that Mike doesn’t touch Jake. Let’s see how Jake reacts after that.”

As for his prediction?

“First-round KO,” Cordeiro declared. “This is Mike Tyson. This is the way he fights.”