Jake Paul’s legendary coach Larry Wade reckons he has the power to translate his cruiserweight knockouts even up a division.

The YouTube star has stopped seven of his ten professional opponents, putting away the likes of Tyron Woodley, Mike Perry and Ben Askren on his route to boxing stardom. But he moves up to heavyweight on Friday night for the first time after piling on the pounds.

He faces the iconic Mike Tyson in his debut at the weight. And despite what is expected to be an almost 40lb transformation from his career lowest, Wade reckons he has what it takes to land a massive knockout to upset fans in Texas.

Mike Tyson warned that Jake Paul is packing a major punch at heavyweight

At the age of 58, there are questions surrounding ‘Iron Mike’ and his punch resistance. Even in his prime, he tended to struggle when brought into the deeper waters during fights, and there is a fear that if Jake Paul lands a big shot on him early, he may go down.

And coach Larry Wade, who has brought the likes of Shawn Porter to world title glory, believes that Paul’s impressive right hand will translate across to the new weight. “Jake has been busting up, knocking down heavyweights since the very beginning of camp,” Wade told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat.

“So I don’t think this is going to be much different. He’s been doing a really good job of handling himself and sustaining himself.

“He’s picking the best punch selection for himself and I feel like he’s going to do that too… With Jake being 27 and having the type of body he has [the weight gain] will work for us – we have this conversation five years from now when he’s 33 maybe not.

“But right now he’s doing great with it. Anybody and everybody has to be concerned with Mike’s power, Mike is still Mike Tyson, you can never take that away from him. We’re concerned but also Mike has got to be concerned with what Jake brings to the table.

“So many people talk about what Mike can do, but why is nobody talking about what Jake has already shown you he can do? His last three fights were knockouts, and in devastating fashion. That man can hit, and Mike better worry about that.

“Jake is going to win, and this is the heavyweight division. These things tend to end in a knockout.:

Jake Paul has been putting down top 15 sparring partners in training

One of the most viral moments of the pre-fight build-up saw Paul dropping a sparring partner in a video he released from camp. The teammate was unknown for weeks, with many theorising that it was not a legitimate opponent.

But it has since emerged that it was, in fact, DeAndre Savage; a top 15-ranked heavyweight with the WBA who has landed six pro wins by knockout and is still undefeated. “If you were Mike or anyone else wouldn’t you say it was fake?” Wade quizzed, before clarifying the reality of the situation.

“It wasn’t fake, he got hit with an overhand right and it was a good shot and he went down. Savage is ranked number 15 in the world, he is not a crappy sparring partner. Can we say that any of these other guys had a top 15 guy in their camp sparring them? Hell no.”

Larry Wade believes Jake Paul has ‘world class’ potenti

Wade was a championship level athlete in his own right during his days as a track and field standout, before retiring and moving into coaching. He has brought NFL players and even NBA All Stars to their physical peaks, but is best known for his work in boxing.

And he believes that Paul may actually have world championship ability in the ring. “He’s right up there,” Wade continued. “He’s definitely a world class, world championship boxer and his athleticism is up there with the best of the best.

“The Shawn Porters and those guys, he has that ability athletically. They contacted me and asked me to come in, I did an interview and the crazy part about that is that I’ve never had to do an interview before in my life.

“Generally people just take my resume as what it is and ask me to be a part of it. They did the interview, Jake wanted me and I wanted to be a part of the program and now I’m here.”