Let’s get ready to rumble.
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We didn’t have to wait until their fight for Mike Tyson and Jake Paul to start throwing hands.
The pair faced off on Friday (AEDT) after standing on the scales ahead of their boxing showdown on Saturday (AEDT) in Texas.
There wasn’t too much on the line at the weigh-in, given there is no weight limit for the heavyweight bout.
Tyson weighed in at 227.2 pounds (103kg), while Paul tipped the scales at 228.4 pounds (103.6kg).
But the drama kicked off afterwards on the stage when they faced off for the final time for the fight.
Paul appeared to be taunting Tyson, who immediately lost his cool and slapped the YouTuber hard across the face.
Watch Mike Tyson slap Jake Paul in the video above
The crowd in attendance gasped and Tyson had to be held back while Paul blew kisses at him and tapped his own cheek.
“Talking’s over,” Tyson said before making his exit with members of his entourage.
Paul, the 27-year-old Youtuber-turned-boxer, insisted he had not been hurt by Tyson’s open-handed slap.
“I didn’t even feel it — he’s angry,” Paul said.
“He’s an angry little elf…cute slap buddy.”
Paul concluded his remarks with an expletive-laden pledge to knock Tyson out, before roaring theatrically into a microphone: “He must die.”
The Happy Punch account wrote on X: “MIKE TYSON JUST ROCKED JAKE PAUL IN THEIR FINAL FACE OFF.”
The weigh-in drama sets the scene for what will be the most watched boxing fight of the year.
Nineteen years after his last fight, Tyson will climb back into the ring in a Netflix-backed bout against Paul at AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, in Arlington, Texas.
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It is an officially sanctioned fight and will feature eight two-minute rounds.
Tyson’s legacy is secured as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers the world has ever seen, but the world may not be sure how to react if he loses to a Gen Z celebrity three decades younger than him.
The bizarre build-up to the fight continued when the 58-year-old Tyson switched into Iron Mike mode when he was asked an innocent question about his legacy by a teenage content creator.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MIKE TYSON VS JAKE PAUL
Meanwhile, boxing promoter Eddie Hearn believes there might be an “agreement” in place between Tyson and Paul about how the fight will pan out.
Hearn’s rival promoter Frank Warren echoed those sentiments. “Mike Tyson is 58 years of age and he shouldn’t be fighting,” Warren said after the bout was announced. “It’s as simple as that.
“Anyone with an ounce of brains knows that it is ridiculous. You can be on a motorway stuck in a traffic jam and you get to the end of it and all it is people who have stopped to look at a crash – and that’s what this is.”
What’s confusing for fans is others in the boxing fraternity believe the fix is in to protect Paul, not Tyson.
“It’s an exhibition fight. I don’t think it should be happening because Tyson is too old. I don’t think it proves anything when Jake Paul beats him, I’ve heard and believe that there is something in the contract which means Tyson can’t even try and hurt him,” said former super-middleweight world champion Carl Froch.
“I’m sure if Tyson did land a big left or right hook on the chin of Jake Paul, then he could render him unconscious,” Froch added. “That’s the only chance he would have, if he could land a big shot on his chin.
“I can’t really see that happening, though. In my view it’s all fixed in advance for Paul and Tyson won’t have the opportunity to do that.”
— With AFP
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