Jake Paul beat boxing legend Mike Tyson by unanimous decision to win an intergenerational heavyweight battle in Texas on Friday that failed to live up to its enormous hype.
The bout between the 27-year-old social media influencer-turned-prizefighter Paul and the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Tyson was streamed live on Netflix and played out in front of a sold-out crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
Earlier, Mike Tyson could not wait to put on the gloves to take a shot at upcoming opponent Jake Paul, striking the social media influencer-turned-boxer in the face as they approached each other before the fight.
The one-time “Baddest Man on the Planet,” 58-year-old Mike Tyson, returned to the ring for his first professional fight in 19 years against “ultimate heel” Paul.
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There was no love lost between the two as Mike Tyson, who weighed in at 228.4 pounds, approached Paul and immediately slapped the 27-year-old in the face and offered a two-word televised remark before walking off-stage: “Talking’s over.”
Jake Paul, who gained a cult following on YouTube before turning to boxing four years ago, was far more loquacious, offering an expletive-riddled rant about his plans to demolish Mike Tyson, who has a 50-6 record with 44 knockouts.
“He’s angry, he’s an angry little elf,” said Jake Paul, who weighed in at 227.2 pounds. “It’s personal now – he must die!”
”Mike Tyson, a beloved pop culture icon in America despite his 1992 rape conviction, insisted to Reuters in an interview last month that the fight was not about the payday.“
This is not for financial reasons. My life is not going to change, not one percentage, after this fight. We will always be able to live this way,” he said.“ And I’m just doing it because I want to test myself.”
