Serious concerns for legendary boxer Mike Tyson’s safety have been raised ahead of his return to the ring on July 20.

‘Iron Mike’ will be 58 years old when he climbs back into the ring in Texas to take on Jake Paul, the YouTube sensation who is controversially making waves in the boxing world.

The fight is set to be screened on Netflix and some commentators are already suggesting it could be a blockbuster event.

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But fans — already shocked by the age gap between the two combatants — were stunned by a decision to not make the bout an exhibition fight.

Instead, under the classification of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the fight will be ‘professional’, thus there will be no protective headgear.

Paul is 27 and is actually building a handy record in the ring that includes six knockouts from 10 fights.

When the fight was announced, Paul said on social media that he was younger and faster and was going to be working his “ass off to get stronger”.

Controversial podcaster Joe Rogan — who calls UFC — recently flagged grave fears for Tyson.

“If a lot of people protest, they won’t approve it,” Rogan said before the fight was classified as professional.

“The thing is, if Tyson dies … See, if you have something like that (happen … people will be held to account).”

Rogan noted Tyson had previously suffered from back issues and once needed a cane to help him walk.

But he said if he could capture 70 per cent of his former athletic ability and 90 per cent of his power the former heavyweight champion of the world might be able to hold his own.

“Just dealing with that 90 per cent of the power (could be an issue for Paul). 70 per cent of the physical ability and 90 per cent of the power …,” Rogan said.

“Because the power is not gone.

“You see it when he hits the bag. The power is there, 100 per cent.

“But (Tyson) has had a bunch of back issues. He had a real bad sciatica and he was walking with a cane.

“But who knows what they’ve done (with his stem cells).

“Even at 57, you can make a lot of money if Mike Tyson is fit and in shape, which is so crazy to say.”

The fight is scheduled to go for eight two-minute rounds.

“Mike Tyson and Jake Paul signed on to fight each other with the desire to do so in a sanctioned professional fight that would have a definitive outcome,” a statement from Paul’s management recently said.

“Over the past six weeks, MVP has worked with its partners to satisfy the requirements of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations (TDLR) to sanction Paul vs. Tyson.

“And we are grateful that we have gotten to this point.”

Tyson has recently been sharing his own training vision to his Instagram followers.

But after one post that he captioned, “I’m coming for you #PaulTyson,” fans became very alarmed.

“No one should be fighting at 58 I don’t like this,” one fan wrote.

And another said: “This doesn’t look good.”

While another wrote: “This is honestly so sad to watch.”

Tyson retired from boxing at the age of 39 and his last professional fight was in 2005.

Paul’s last fight was in December where he brutally KO’d Ryan Bourland in the first round.