Mike Tyson and Jake Paul are just hours away from their controversial contest.
Tyson, 58, hung up the gloves back in 2005 on back-to-back losses. He returned for an exhibition against Roy Jones Jr in 2020 and will now face Paul, 27, over eight two-minute rounds with 14 ounce gloves. Knockdowns and knockouts are permitted on the bout and the result will land on each man’s pro record.
Despite many thinking that the contest will play out more like a WWE-style exhibition, Tyson added real animosity to proceedings when he slapped Paul in the face at the public weigh-in.
He later revealed to the New York Post that it was due to the younger man stepping on his toe, something he believes was deliberate.
“I was in my socks and he had on shoes. He stepped on my toe because he is a f–king a–hole. I wanted to think it happened by accident. But now I think it may have happened on purpose. I was in a lot of pain. I had to reciprocate.”
Speaking on X about the viral moment, Teddy Atlas – who helped coach Tyson in the very early stages of his boxing days – said that the novice fighter could be affected mentally.
“It could intimidate Paul.”
What the trainer-turned-analyst is sure of though is that the slap will increase the event’s viewership.
“If nothing else it just brought a lot more subscribers and views to tomorrow night.”
The event – which features the highly-anticipated rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano as chief support – is being streamed live on Netflix. Latest figures show that the platform has 282.7 million subscribers worldwide, all of which can access the fight card.
