“Aye, Dallas, shut the fuck up,” Paul yelled to the crowd while holding up two middle fingers. “Y'all keep booing, I keep doing. Y'all wanna do it, let’s fucking do it. Keep booing, I keep doing. Fucking hillbillies. Hey, go milk a cow.”
The crowd chanted, "Fuck Jake Paul."
Only a year ago, Paul had praised the city of Dallas, where he made some of the greatest strides in his career, fighting Nate Diaz at the American Airlines Center.
Paul will fight Tyson on July 20 at Arlington's AT&T Stadium. The heavyweight-division fight is slated for eight rounds of two minutes each. The main event will be the highly anticipated rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano; their first bout is considered by many to be the biggest fight in women’s boxing history.
The sanctioned pro bout will be a global spectacle as Netflix's first-ever live event in partnership with MVP, Paul’s company Most Valuable Promotions. The fight will be exclusively broadcast on the streaming platform for Netflix subscribers.
Love him or hate him, Jake Paul is the biggest draw today in boxing. In his third fight in Dallas, he broke the record for the biggest gate of a boxing or MMA event in Texas. For this match with Tyson, 270 million people worldwide are expected to watch live on Netflix, and AT&T Stadium is expected to draw 80,000 spectators.
When Emmy Award-winning sports broadcaster Brian Custer announced Tyson's arrival, the crowd gave him a hero's welcome. The upcoming fight with Paul will be Tyson’s first in four years following an exhibition against Roy Jones Jr. in 2020.
Paul is fresh off a knockout victory over boxer Ryan Bourland in December 2023. Most of his victories have been by knockout. As Tuesday’s press conference spiraled out of control because of the relentless sounds of “Fuck Jake Paul,” Paul promised to knock Tyson out in their upcoming fight.
“What I promise to the people is on July 20th, Mike will be put to sleep and he will feel my power and I will go down as the man who put Tyson to sleep for the last time,” Paul yelled over the chanting.
The bold statement led to Tyson telling Paul, “I’d like to see you try.”
Tyson, who will be 58 on fight night, is known for his devastating knockout power. The icon's imposing presence in the boxing ring during the peak of his career still instills fear in fans.
There's a 31-year age gap between the fighters, but Tyson said he's not worried about facing off with Paul after noticing the boxer’s recent weight gain on social media. “He's fat,” Tyson said on Thursday. “He should be lean and mean and he's fat and funky. I saw him with his shirt off, though, and he's fat.”
Paul reminded him what happened the last time he doubted a "fat" heavyweight.
“Hey, Buster Douglas was fat. Am I right?” said Paul. “I know, but you know, Buster Douglas, I'm better. I'm going to end you quicker than he did, and you'll remember that forever. You started me off. I appreciate that. Mike, I love you. I love you like a father loves his son, but I must discipline you. You're going down, man.”
Paul referred to the former heavyweight boxing champion who served Tyson his first career loss in 1990 by knockout in Tokyo, considered one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. Douglas spoke to broadcast journalist Bob Costas about Tyson's performance a few days after the fight: “Tyson fought a great fight. See, people fail to realize because they are so used to [Tyson] going in there and destroying guys, being on the up in every fight. But it was my ability and it was my technique that offset Tyson. And Tyson was at his best because the shots I knocked him out with late in the fight was the same shots that I was hitting him with earlier. It seemed to have no effect but through my experiences in boxing, the more rounds you go, the better for you.”
Bad Blood
Between Tyson’s age and Paul’s weight, various boxing enthusiasts have reservations about the fight, with many social media users suggesting that it's staged. Paul denied the claims on Thursday, saying, “I hope y'all keep that same energy when I knock this old man the fuck out. Clearly, they don't have a high IQ in here, but that's a federal crime.”Tyson added, “I started Jake off and I’m gonna finish him.”
Tyson spoke about how he doesn't recognize Paul’s power or resume compared to his own legacy, but Paul’s right hook has earned recognition with knockouts of decorated MMA legends such as Tyrone Woodley, Ben Askren and Andre August. Tyson discredited Paul’s former opponents for being unable to knock out legitimate MMA legends.
“He's not going to win,” Tyson told the crowd. “He can't even knock out Nate D [Diaz] who is, like, 40 pounds. How's he going to knock me out? Who’s the other guy? Anderson Silva. He didn't knock out Tommy Fury. He didn't knock those little guys out, [how’s he going to] knock me out? Who did he knock out? Little children. Never knocked out a real man.”
Since the age of 17, Tyson has fought the best heavyweights in the world. At 19, he became the youngest heavyweight champion ever. On Thursday, Paul acknowledged Tyson's power but said he believes it's in the past. Tyson argued that Paul will not become a future world champion, saying, “Yes, he did improve a lot, but he is not going to have a good night when he fights me on July 20th.”
Paul said that a victory over "Iron Mike" would be the stamp of approval he'd need for the opportunity to fight for a world title.
“They say he's the baddest man on the planet, so let's find out,” said Paul. “Apparently, he's the final boss. … I love the biggest challenges in the world. That's what's made my whole entire career is taking big risks and I want the toughest guy out there. I want the biggest fights and making history is what I've done my whole entire career. And this is no different. Netflix, Mike Tyson — it doesn't get any bigger than this, and everyone will see July 20th.”
It's a full-circle moment for both fighters, as Paul debuted on the undercard of Mike Tyson versus Roy Jones Jr. in 2016. Tyson's decision to fight Paul seems primarily a business move rather than a competitive one.
“This is just stealing money fighting this guy,” Tyson said.
