LAS COLINAS, Texas — What year is it?
No, there is no time machine. No fountain of youth.
No secret elixir that brings him back to his prime.
But in the penultimate month of 2024, Mike Tyson is still at the center of massive events.
“I’m just ready to fight,” Tyson said Wednesday. “I’ve said everything I’ve had to say. There’s nothing else to say. I’m just looking forward to fighting. … The [amount of] people speaks for itself.”
Now 58 years old, he’s not carrying this promotion himself, however — far from.
This time around, he has a dance partner that bridges him to the next generation of fans in Jake Paul.
The 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer possesses a massive following and knack for drawing audiences.
His ability to connect with younger followers on social media has built significant intrigue in his career, whether positive or, more often, negative.
It has accelerated his boxing career exponentially, bringing him lucrative paydays and to giant platforms almost no other fighter could reach at this stage of their career.
Coupled together, Tyson and Paul have created an event in which almost nobody knows what to expect.
The two conducted their last news conference on Wednesday at the Toyota Music Center ahead of their highly anticipated bout Friday night at AT&T Stadium — home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
The fight will be livestreamed on Netflix, free for subscribers without any pay-per-view, marking the first-ever boxing fight to be streamed by the company.
Both are in line for massive earnings, with Paul expected to make around $40 million and Tyson around $20 million.
Paul has predicted 20 million people will tune in, but Netflix doesn’t even need to come close to that figure to make history.
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Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao drew 4.6 million viewers in 2015, the most-watched boxing match ever. Nakisa Bidarian, who cofounded Most Valuable Promotions with Paul, claimed that they’re trending toward 65,000 fans in attendance.
“I’m blessed to be in the position I am, to be highly criticized,” Paul said. “That just means I’m doing something right. No one has had a boxing career like mine. It’ll be studied and judged, but I’ve risen to the top in four years because I’ve taken risks.”
Tyson (50-6-2, 44 KOs), one of the biggest legends — and villains — in sports history, has not fought a professional bout since his loss to Kevin McBride in 2005, though he did fight Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition in 2020.
Tyson suffered an inflamed ulcer on a flight in May, prompting this bout to be postponed from July 20 to Friday.
There isn’t much precedent for 58-year-olds coming off inflamed ulcers getting into the ring and getting punched, to say the least.
Paul (10-1, 7 KOs) has fought fellow influencers, MMA-fighters-turned-boxers, athletes from other sports and low-level professional boxers.
To make this bout even more unique, though it is an officially sanctioned heavyweight fight that will count on both fighters’ records, there will be eight (instead of 10 rounds, which is typical for non-title fights) two-minute rounds rather than the three-minute rounds that are standard in boxing.
Also, both fighters will wear bigger, 14-ounce gloves rather than the 10-ounce gloves that are standard for heavyweights in order to reduce the impact of punches.
It all raises so many questions that should soon be answered.
Does Tyson actually have anything left?
Is it safe for him?
Can Paul actually box, or has his whole career just been a gimmick for money?
Is this something that can help boxing and deliver a new medium to watch live sports, or a one-off that is designed to shock viewers into watching?
Should this be taken seriously despite the different rules?
Anybody’s guess is as good as others. That mystery is driving the immense interest in this fight.
“I’m not gonna lose,” Tyson said in a rare moment he became animated. “Did you hear what I said?”
Hundreds of fans jammed into the Toyota Music Center on Wednesday. Booze flowed through the seats, whiffs of marijuana wafted through the venue and shouts from the crowd constantly interrupted the fighters on stage.
Tyson barely spoke in complete sentences and never mustered more than a few words at a time, even when probed over and over by host Ariel Helwani.
Paul went on expletive-filled rants against reporters and cursed out the undercard fighters who predicted he’d lose, challenging them all to bet against him.
The circus has commenced.
“Someone’s getting put to sleep,” Paul said. “It’s gonna be a war and we’re both heavy hitters. It’s not going the full 16 minutes.”
