Mike Tyson will go back on a family promise that he’d never fight Jake Paul, a much-loved figure in his household. The 57-year-old, ex-heavyweight King will take on Paul, who’s 30 decades his junior, on July 20 inside the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
It’ll be Tyson’s first fight since Nov. 2020, when he took on fellow boxing great, Roy Jones Jr, and his first professional fight since his TKO defeat to Kevin McBride in June 2005. The fight will be streamed live on Netflix, but will see Tyson break a promise he made to his family.
Asked on the Full Send Podcast in 2021 if he could KO Paul, Tyson said: “So ——- easy. Yeah, but I would never. I’d be against my own ——- family. They love this little white ———— You know what I mean? He got balls. He’s got ——- balls. When you see a white boy with balls, you know. I’m talking about for real, but —- you ————. Yeah, but nah man, let him have his ——- reign.”
Tyson heads into the July fight off the back of a medical emergency sparked by an ulcer flare-up while travelling from Miami to Los Angeles over the weekend. “Iron Mike” fell ill and had to be attended to by paramedics after landing at LAX – but the ex-boxer has been confirmed as being healthy.
“Thankfully Mr. Tyson is doing great. He became nauseous and dizzy due to an ulcer flare up 30 minutes before landing. He is appreciative to the medical staff that were there to help him,” a statement read. Over 90,000 fans are expected to be in attendance this summer for Tyson’s professional comeback.
“It’s crazy to think about but as many people as can fit in the stadium, I think it’s 90,000 or 93,000,” he told TMZ Sports. “I think it’s going to be packed to the brim and the global viewership could be in the hundreds of millions. It’s wild and it doesn’t make any sense but the fact Netflix are part of this is the perfect piece of the puzzle.
“It makes it the perfect trifecta of Netflix’s audience, my audience and Mike Tyson’s audience. And to the kids at home, [it says] don’t listen to the critics. Do you and don’t be afraid to knock down the doors of opportunity because you truly never know where it’s going to lead you.”
Tyson hit out at Paul during their press conference, saying: “I don’t know if he’s in his prime. He’s fat. He should be lean and mean. He’s fat and funky. I saw him with his shirt off the other day, he’s fat. Did you start training already?”
