Ex-NHLer Georges Laraque issues a bold statement after Mike Tyson's loss to Jake Paul

Former NHL enforcer Georges Laraque recently shared his thoughts on the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight. Paul, who is 27, defeated 58-year-old Mike Tyson. He won by unanimous decision, which some fans already expected.

After the bout, Laraque took to X and made a bold claim:

“Man would I love a chance to knock that @jakepaul out! Kinda like when Tyson destroyed Larry Holmes for Ali, I would knock out Paul for Tyson, but that man would never take that chance… Tonight was so hard to watch 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬.” -Georges Laraque posted.

In 1988, Mike Tyson defeated Larry Holmes via a fourth round knockout, avenging Muhammad Ali's loss. Tyson was just 21 years old then. He promised Ali he would get revenge after watching Holmes beat Ali in 1980. While Holmes was a strong fighter, no one stopped him like Tyson did. That victory remains in the history books as one of Tyson's most important career fights.

Laraque is familiar with combat sports. In 2010, he grappled with MMA champion Georges St-Pierre on TSN’s "Off The Record." He also competed in CBC’s "Battle of the Blades" that same year. In 2020, Laraque spoke about a possible charity fight against Tyson, but it didn’t happen.

Given his experience in combat sports, Laraque was on BPM Sports Radio where he and Stephane Gonzalez discussed the fight between Paul and Tyson.

Georges Laraque’s shared his perspective on Fighting in the NHL

Georges Laraque spoke about fighting in the NHL during the "Hello Hockey" podcast on Wednesday. He said that it is less common now, but the "code" of standing up for teammates is still important.

“It doesn’t matter that there’s less fighting right now than there used to be,” Laraque said. “There’s always going to be a code in the NHL. Now, every time there's a body check, even if it's clean, someone's dropping the gloves and it's okay because you're backing up your teammates, I love to see it."

Laraque also praised Nikita Kucherov for standing up for Victor Hedman after a legal hit.

“It’s a good response to show a team that guys are sticking up for one another,” Laraque said.

Georges Laraque believes these actions show the importance of physical play and supporting teammates in today’s NHL.