This Friday, the former world boxing champion will meet Jake Paul to prove he is still the best in an $80 million bout

Full article

Mike Tyson returns to the ring to fight exyoutuber Jake Paul

After almost 20 years out of the ring, Mike Tyson (Iron Mike) returns to the ring to face exyoutuber, now professional boxer, Jake Paul. The fight will take place in the city of Arlington, at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, in the United States, during the night of 15-16 November. The highly anticipated bout will be attended by 80,000 people, but Netflix, which has been documenting the lives of the fighters in the weeks leading up to the bout, will stream the fight on its platform and make it available to all subscribers.

Many are wondering why the former heavyweight champion of the world is putting his gloves back on for this round, which many consider a circus. Although Tyson has stated on several occasions that the event is a personal challenge for him, the reality is that the financial incentive is a reason that does not go unnoticed. Tyson and Paul will pocket 40 million dollars each for taking part in the fight. To this exorbitant figure, we can add all the money they have earned for the pre-fight documentary, in which Netflix shows the personal affairs of the protagonists, their day-to-day life, training and so on; as well as what they get from the fight promotion, merchandising and advertising.

Although Tyson claims to be a minor motive, we know that the living boxing legend had financial problems after retiring for not knowing how to manage his wealth and squandering money. However, Paul is totally sincere about this matter and has stated on occasion: ‘I'm here to make 40 million and knock out a legend’.

This fight is one of the most anticipated of the year, as the heavyweights facing each other could not be more opposite. On the one hand, Mike Tyson is a world boxing star, even though he has been out of the boxing world for 20 years, he will always be recognised for his professionalism and achievements. On the other hand, Jake Paul is an exyoutuber who was very successful in 2017 and 2018. He is now focusing on the world of boxing, striving to prove himself and that he is now a different person than he used to be more than six years ago.

However, he has not lost his essence of teasing, and if there is one thing that characterises him, it is his provocations. Ever since they started preparing for the fight, he has not stopped stinging Tyson on social media, with AI-generated videos of Paul kissing Tyson and messages like: ‘I'm going to prove that old dinosaurs like Tyson have no place in today's ring. This Friday, I'm going to do what many thought impossible: knock out the legend’.

Another of his attacks on his rival are the continuous allegations about his physical superiority due to age. On social media he also posted about how Mike Tyson is not what he used to be because ‘he has lost his spark’. However, for Tyson, this only increases the desire to fight. He has also spoken out: ‘Jake Paul is a little kid who doesn't understand boxing. I'm not going to give him lessons; I'm going to show him that boxing is serious’. Despite his apparent calm, Tyson has made it clear that he wants to show that boxing ‘is not a YouTube show’ and that at almost 60 years old he is still the king of the ring.