Jake Paul will abandon his quest to establish himself as an up-and-coming cruiserweight and return to the freak show fight circuit for a blockbuster boxing match against former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. Their headlining showdown will stream LIVE on Netflix on Sat., July 20, 2024 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“It’s crazy to think that in my second pro fight, I went viral for knocking out Nate Robinson on Mike Tyson’s undercard. Now, less than four years later, I’m stepping up to face Tyson myself to see if I have what it takes to beat one of boxing’s most notorious fighters and biggest icons,” Paul said in today’s release. “Within just two and a half years of founding MVP, we’re about to produce the biggest fight in history, a fight in the biggest NFL stadium in the US, broadcast live, on the biggest streaming platform in the world – a testament to all we’ve accomplished in such a short amount of time.”
Paul, 27, made his boxing debut with a thunderous knockout victory over NBA star Nate Robinson back in late 2020, which helped the 57 year-old Tyson hit 1.2 million pay-per-view (PPV) buys for his exhibition match against fellow pugilist Roy Jones Jr. in Los Angeles.
In the four years since that “sweet science” debut, “The Problem Child” is 9-1 with six knockouts. That includes last weekend’s destruction of aging oil rigger Jake Bourland in the “Serrano vs. Meinke” co-main event in Puerto Rico (highlights here).
“I’m very much looking forward to stepping into the ring with Jake Paul at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas,” Tyson said. “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. It’s a full circle moment that will be beyond thrilling to watch; as I started him on his boxing journey on the undercard of my fight with Roy Jones and now I plan to finish him.”
There’s no way Tyson wrote that but I guess it doesn’t matter.
The exhibition bout against Jones Jr. marked the last time Tyson saw action inside the ring. “Iron” Mike previously told the combat sport media that he was retired from boxing and would not be making another comeback; however, it appears the allure of a Paul fight — or perhaps the payday that comes with it — was too much to resist.
Time to see if the “bully” can finally get bullied.
