(Reuters) – Mike Tyson could not wait to put on the gloves to take a shot at upcoming opponent Jake Paul, striking the social media influencer-turned-boxer in the face as they approached each other at Thursday’s weigh-in at Arlington, Texas.
The one-time “Baddest Man on the Planet,” 58-year-old Tyson is returning to the ring for his first professional fight in 19 years against “ultimate heel” Paul in the wildly anticipated showdown at AT&T Stadium on Friday.
There was no love lost between the two as Tyson, who weighed in at 228.4 pounds, approached Paul and immediately slapped the 27-year-old in the face and offered a two-word televised remark before walking off stage: “Talking’s over.”
Paul, who gained a cult following on YouTube before turning to boxing four years ago, was far more loquacious, offering an expletive-riddled rant about his plans to demolish Tyson, who has a 50-6 record with 44 knockouts.
“He’s angry, he’s an angry little elf,” said Paul, who weighed in at 227.2 pounds. “It’s personal now – he must die!”
The fight is the first live boxing match that Netflix has aired, as the streamer with more than 280 million subscribers makes inroads into the sports arena.
The match has drawn extraordinary global interest but also criticism, with British promoter Eddie Hearn dismissing the bout as “dangerous, irresponsible and disrespectful to boxing.”
Tyson, a beloved pop culture icon in America despite his 1992 rape conviction, insisted to Reuters in an interview last month that the fight was not about the payday.
“This is not for financial reasons. My life is not going to change, not one percentage after this fight. We will always be able to live this way,” he said.
“And I’m just doing it because I want to test myself.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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