I hope Mike Tyson knocks out Jake Paul, losing will tarnish his legacy as an all-time great, ex-sparring partner fears

MIKE TYSON must knock out Jake Paul for the sake of his reputation.

That is according to Joe Egan, who sparred the boxing great when they were both teenage amateurs.

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Mike Tyson facing off with Jake Paul[/caption]

Egan spent two years training with Iron Mike before he became the youngest heavyweight champion of all time aged just 20 in 1986.

But the Irishman fears that will be just one of the legendary feats to be tarnished if Tyson is beaten by YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul on Friday.

Egan told SunSport: “I think Paul is going to be confronted with that wrecking machine on the 15th, and I sort of say this in hope, I hope that Mike knocks him out.

“Because, it’s going to diminish his achievements of the 91 seconds against Michael Spinks, three rounds with Trevor Berbick.

“It’s going to take away from all of that because Jake Paul isn’t the man to beat Mike Tyson at this stage of his life or at this age of his career, because he will tarnish his reputation as an all-time great.”

Egan and Tyson remained good friends in the years after their sparring sessions in the Catskills in New York.

And Egan was even at Tyson’s last professional bout – over 20 YEARS ago when he quit on his stool and threw the towel in on his career.

Egan, who has launched new company Platinum Prizes, recalls: “I was at that fight in Washington DC, but it was a shell of a man. It was a shell of a man.

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“And when Danny Williams beat him, it was the British heavyweight champion European heavyweight champion, no shame to lose to that man.

“But it was still the shell of a man in Mike Tyson, right? McBride was a good heavyweight but Jake Paul is no McBride and he isn’t Danny Williams.”

Paul, 27, has ten wins and only a single loss to Tommy Fury, 25, in his boxing record.

And Egan – who retired himself at 13-3 while also representing Ireland as an amateur – respects the social media star.

He said: “Jake Paul has got something that fighters are born with, and that’s courage. You can teach a person skills but you can’t teach them courage.

“Now, if you haven’t got courage, you go and play other sports. You don’t play boxing.

“You play basketball, you play golf, you play tennis, you play soccer, you don’t play boxing so he’s got quality that I admire. He’s got an admirable quality.

“The fact that he wants to climb into the ring with the most powerful puncher of his era, 58 or 28 – doesn’t matter. Mike Tyson is still a wrecking machine.”

Mike Tyson with former sparring partner Joe Egan