Election Day is evidence that Mike Tyson and Jake Paul share more than a love for boxing and a pledge to knock each other out.
As the two fighters prepare for their heavyweight bout Nov. 15, they also have this in common: an affinity for Donald Trump and ties to the Republican nominee and former president.
Before the 2016 election, Tyson told Huffington Post, “He should be president of the United States. Hell yeah, big time!” While Tyson has offered no public endorsement this year, in off-the-cuff remarks he has made it clear he still supports Trump.
Their relationship dates to the 1980s, when Trump hosted Tyson’s bouts in Atlantic City.
“I always remember him from being a good guy, paying me a lot of money,” Tyson said with a chuckle in 2022 during an appearance on the New York Post Sports’ podcast.
Tyson also must remember Trump defending him after Tyson was convicted in 1992 of raping Desiree Washington, then an 18-year-old Miss Black American beauty pageant contest.
“Railroaded in the case,” Trump once said.
Paul’s history with Trump is less known. But on July 29, Paul posted a video on his Instagram page of him and Trump facing off like two boxers.
The backdrop indicated they were both attending a cryptocurrency conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
On the political video Paul later created, he said, “Because I moved to Puerto Rico in pursuit of becoming a world champion in my boxing career, I have rescinded my right to vote. But that doesn’t mean I can’t present my 80-million large audience with proper facts, numbers and data to encourage them to vote in the proper direction and to quite literally save America.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Tyson and Jake Paul have a history of Trump support
