Jake Paul has agreed to fight Mike Tyson after the boxing legend sung his praises during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Tyson, famed for his iconic moniker 'The Baddest Man on the Planet', was on the ABC chat show to talk about his life in general among other things.

And unsurprisingly he was asked if he would ever fight Paul, to which he replied he would.

Taking to Twitter, Paul praised Tyson for 'the respect and opportunity' accompanied by a video of him talking up the potential bout.

He tweeted: "Thank you to the great Mike Tyson for the respect and opportunity. This year we are making it happen."

Paul, 25, has ruffled a few feathers in the boxing community, with many arguing that he should face a real boxer first before he calls himself a proper fighter.

But Tyson has moved to defend Paul from his critics claiming that he has actually helped the sport grow by bringing in more eyeballs.

He told Kimmel: "Anything is possible but it has got to happen this year. That could be very interesting. He is skilled enough and I will give it to him because he is winning.

"Even if he is fighting fighters that aren't meant to be good enough, they should still be beating him but they can't. He is beating people that he shouldn't really be beating so you have to give him credit. He is doing good and he is doing things that are great for boxing.

"This guy has 7 million people following him every time he fights. The champions of the world don't have that many people following him so what he is doing for boxing is sensational. No-one should be hating on him, what this kid is doing they should be following him.

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Feb 2, 2022; New York, New York, USA; American boxer Jake Paul gestures at a fan during the third quarter between the New York Knicks and the Memphis Grizzlies at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Jake Paul has verbally agreed to fight Mike Tyson

"He is helping everybody get money so why are people mad at him?"

Tyson, 55, hasn't set foot inside the ring since coming out of retirement for his exhibition match with Roy Jones Jr in November 2020.

The American had been expected to hang up his gloves once again, but previously spoke of his interest in a crossover bout with Paul.

Speaking on his podcast earlier this year, he said: “I was going to stop but they started offering us some real dough so I’ll just wait until everything is substantial.

“Jake Paul believe it or not is more profitable than the champs.

“Listen, this guy probably brings like eighty million people to the table.

“Him alone, he could do eighty or ninety million.

"Only to break the record though, I’m not going to do it if I’m not going to break the record.

“Let’s do it Jakey!

“Wouldn’t that be cool and stuff?

“I love him so much – he’s so smart, right?

“But listen, you know what I worry about? I worry about him getting in trouble before the fight happens.

“I’d tell him ‘Hey man, you’re going to go to jail for real, chill out’.

“You can be wild without going to jail.

“This dude is crazy, he would be throwing stuff at people, bottles, and stuff.”