Mike Tyson and Jake Paul are reportedly nearing a deal for an exhibition fight between the 55-year-old former heavyweight champion and 25-year-old YouTuber that could be generate nearly $50 million.
The Sun is reporting the deal, which would be a pay-per-view bout later in 2022.
‘Mike and Jake are on board for an exhibition bout in Las Vegas,’ a business associate of Tyson’s told The Sun.
‘A verbal deal has been struck to get it on, but like all forms of sports business, now it’s all about the contracts and money split.
‘Mike is looking for a certain figure to get into the ring with a profit share guarantee.
‘Jake obviously has that on his mind but is keen to show the world that stepping into the ring with a man once called, ”the baddest man on the planet,” takes his boxing career to the next level.’
Obviously it’s the 30-year age difference that makes this potential bout unique.
‘This fight bridges the gap between old school boxing fans and the new generation of followers,’ the source told The Sun.
Mike Tyson and Jake Paul are reportedly nearing a deal for an exhibition between the 55-year-old former heavyweight champion and 25-year-old YouTuber that could be generate nearly $50 million. The Sun is reporting the deal, which would be a pay-per-view bout later in 2022
Tyson last fought in 2020 against another retired former champion, Roy Jones Jr. (right), in LA
Paul hasn’t fought any experienced boxers, but he is 5-0 against another YouTuber, former NBA star Nate Robinson, and MMA fighters Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley (pictured), the latter of whom was knocked out in their rematch last month
Jake Paul fights Tyron Woddley during a Paul Woodley II on December 18, 2021 in Tampa
Mike Tyson exits the ring after his split draw against Roy Jones, Jr. in November of 2020
The 30-year age gap aside, Tyson (50-6-2) holds a considerable advantage in experience having fought in 58 professional bouts against actual boxers.
Paul, on the other hand, is 5-0 against another YouTuber, former NBA star Nate Robinson, and MMA fighters Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley, the latter of whom was knocked out in their rematch last month.
Unlike those, though, this would be an exhibition fight, in which knockdowns — let alone any knockouts — are quite rare.
The Sun’s source believes the bout can generate as much as much as £36million ($49 million) between live and pay per view broadcasts.
Tyson previously speculated about another exhibition following his match against against retired boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. in 2020. At the time, he thought he’d be back in the ring in February, but it now looks to be taking place later in 2022.
‘I am going to have a return fight in February and we are pretty skeptical about the opponent but it will be a really stimulating opponent,’ Tyson told the Sun.
According to Tyson, the money for fighting one of the well-known Paul or his brother Logan would be too much to refuse.
‘That is the fight for the money,’ Tyson said in 2021. ‘Those are the money-making fights, those guys got 35 million people to watch.
‘Hell, I would fight them,’ he continued. ‘They would fight me. That would make a lot of money.
‘Hundred million dollars, they do anything, they don’t mind getting beat up for a hundred million dollars.’
Mike Tyson (R) throws a punch against Trevor Berbick during the fight at Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mike Tyson won the WBC heavyweight title by a second-round TKO
While a win over Tyson would be Paul’s first against a legitimate boxer, it might not impress those within the sport.
Even aside from his age, Tyson’s reputation as the scariest man in boxing was laid to rest since 1990, when he was knocked out by James ‘Buster’ Douglas in Tokyo.
Prior to that, things were considerably different for Tyson, who was once so scared of killing his opponents in the ring that he often needed to have sex with groupies before fights to take the edge off his rage, his former bodyguard and chauffeur has claimed.
‘He had to get laid to disengage some of the strength he had,’ Rudy Gonzalez told The Sun in November. ‘So I had girls tucked away in bathrooms and changing rooms.
‘Sometimes he’d go in with them for a minute, bang the s*** out of them, snap his neck and say: ”Okay this guy is going to live tonight.”’
Tyson lost two fights to Evander Holyfield (right) and was famously disqualified in the second
Mike Tyson was so scared of killing his opponents in the ring, that he often needed to have sex with groupies before fights to take the edge off his rage, his ex-bodyguard has claimed
Referee Lane Mills (L) steps in as Evander Holyfield (R) reacts after Mike Tyson bit his ear in the third round of their WBA heavyweight championship fight at the MGM Grand Garden in 1997
The strategy may have worked. Tyson, now 55, never did kill anyone in the ring, although he bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear in 1997, leading to a disqualification in their infamous rematch.
As Gonzalez explained, the ritual of pre-fight sex was born out of the heavyweight champion’s fear of killing another boxer.
‘His biggest fear was that he would kill someone in that ring,’ Gonzalez said. ‘He knew he could do it.
‘It is no exaggeration to say Mike was like a train hitting these guys. Having sex was his way of disengaging that power and loosening up a bit.’
In addition to rage and sex, Tyson’s pre-fight routine was also defined by intense anxiety and sorrow.
‘He had an anxiety problem where he would be in despair with anxiety of not feeling good enough or not wanting to screw it up,’ Gonzalez said.
‘Mike had the fear that if he screwed this up, he would end up back in his old neighborhood or be locked up.’
Mike Tyson leaves his trial in 1992 after being found guilty of raping an 18-year-old woman
And Tyson had reason to fear his former life.
Abandoned by his father at birth, and orphaned at 16 when his mother passed away, Tyson grew up in Brooklyn’s rough Brownsville neighborhood in the 1970s and had the physical and emotional scars to prove it.
According to several accounts, Tyson was targeted for his short stature and his lisp at a young age, and he responded by getting arrested 38 times by age 13.
He was eventually enrolled at the Tryon School for Boys in Johnstown, New York, where a corrections officer named Bobby Stewart introduced him to boxing and legendary trainer Cus D’Amato, who would become Tyson’s legal guardian.
Tyson would soon become the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history by beating Trevor Berbick in 1986 at age 20.
But his aside from his prodigious power (44 of his 50 career wins ended by knockout), Tyson will also be remembered for disappointments inside and outside the ring.
Boxer Mike Tyson looks at the ink on his hands after being fingerprinted during booking at the City-County Building in Indianapolis, March 26, 1992 after receiving a sentence of six years in prison from Judge Patricia Gifford for rape and deviant conduct
He steamrolled over lesser opponents in the late 1980s, but his one-year marriage to actress Robin Givens ended with allegations of abuse against Tyson.
In 1990, in what was thought to be a warmup fight for his much-anticipated bout with Holyfield, Tyson was stunned by Douglas, a 40-to-1 underdog.
Douglas would promptly lose his titles to Holyfield, rendering a rematch pointless, but Tyson got back on the winning track with three straight knockouts and a unanimous decision victory over Donovan Ruddock in their rematch.
However, before Tyson could step into the ring with Holyfield, he would be accused and convicted of raping an 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant in an Indianapolis hotel room.
He would return to the ring in 1995, but Tyson was never the same.
Tyson was eventually enrolled at the Tryon School for Boys in Johnstown, New York, where a corrections officer named Bobby Stewart introduced him to boxing and legendary trainer Cus D’Amato (pictured at a House hearing on boxing), who would become Tyson’s legal guardian
After winning four easy bouts upon his release, Tyson would go 5-5 over the remainder of his career, including two losses to Holyfield and a knockout defeat to Lennox Lewis. His career ended in 2005 with a an embarrassing loss to unheralded Kevin McBride.
In retirement, Tyson has changed his public persona, launching a one-man show in 2013 in which he discussed his often traumatic upbringing and adult life. He’s also started charities for children from broken homes, appeared in movies, such as The Hangover series, and is now a cannabis entrepreneur.
He’s also opened up about past drug use, which he said centered on cocaine, but also included the venom from a poisonous toad that he said actually left him legally dead for a brief moment.
‘In my trips I’ve seen that death is beautiful,’ Tyson told the New York Post recently. ‘Life and death both have to be beautiful, but death has a bad rep. The toad has taught me that I’m not going to be here forever. There’s an expiration date.
‘I did it as a dare,’ Tyson sad of ingesting the psychedelic. ‘I was doing heavy drugs like cocaine, so why not? It’s another dimension. Before I did the toad, I was a wreck. The toughest opponent I ever faced was myself. I had low self-esteem. People with big egos often have low self-esteem. We use our ego to subsidize that. The toad strips the ego.’
A year ago, Tyson stepped into the ring for an exhibition against former multi-weight division title-winner Roy Jones Jr. The WBC unofficially called the bout a draw.
Mike Tyson looks to start the fight with Jose Ribalta at Trump Plaza Hotel on August 17, 1986
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