Former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson will don the gloves once more when he faces Jake Paul at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on July 21.
The exhibition bout will be broadcast on Netflix.
Tyson, who will be 58 when he enters the ring to face, has not boxed professionally since being stopped in six rounds by Kevin McBride 19 years ago. In November 2020 he boxed an eight-round exhibition bout against former undisputed light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr, who is three years his junior.
At 27, Paul is less than half Tyson’s age. He boxed his second professional bout on the undercard of Tyson-Jones.
“He’s grown significantly as a boxer over the years, so it will be a lot of fun to see what the will and ambition of a ‘kid’ can do with the experience and aptitude of a GOAT,” Tyson said.
“I started him on his boxing journey on the undercard of my fight with Roy Jones and now I plan to finish him.”
The bout is expected to be available to Netflix subscribers for free and not as a pay-per-view event.
“Given the names involved, that it’s not on PPV and is on Netflix, which is everywhere globally it may be the most watched boxing event ever,” boxing reporter Dan Rafael posted to X, the social media site previously known as Twitter.
Paul has unexpectedly become a drawcard in his own right after parlaying his success as a YouTuber into a boxing career. From a marketing perspective, matching him with the most globally renowned heavyweight since Muhammed Ali was a no-brainer.
“He’s the greatest heavyweight of all time… the most vicious KO artist ever,” Paul posted to X.
“But I’m younger, I’m faster and I’m going to be working my ass off to get stronger. A member of my team sent me this video that Mike’s coach put up two weeks ago and asked me if I’m sure that I want to do this… yes, yes I do. Heavyweight.”
He added: “My sights are set on becoming a world champion, and now I have a chance to prove myself against the greatest heavyweight champion of the world, the baddest man on the planet and the most dangerous boxer of all time. Time to put Iron Mike to sleep.”
But not everyone was as hyped for the fight as the protagonists. Mixed martial artist Dillon Danis, who lost his boxing debut to Paul by disqualification in October last year, was immediately critical of the matchup.
“You’re fighting someone who was born in 1966,” tweeted Dillon Danis, who fought and lost to Logan Paul. “Have some shame.”
UFC great Michael Bisping echoed the sentiment, sending a tweet to Paul on X that read: “You should be ashamed of yourself. And the biggest joke is you don’t even slightly realise why.”
