Mike Tyson, one of the greatest boxers of our generation, is stepping back into the ring. The “Baddest Man on the Planet” will take Jake “El Gallo de Dorado” Paul, a former YouTuber-turned-boxer, on July 20, 2024, in the 80,000-seat capacity AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
First announced this past March, Tyson and Paul have been steadily training in their respective corners for the upcoming and highly-anticipated heavyweight bout. But the two put down their gloves and met up at the famed Apollo Theater on May 13, 2024, to see each other eye-to-eye and discuss why—and how—they believe this unprecedented fight will go down.
“It was a no-brainer,” Tyson declared of the match-up. “He was a new up-and-coming guy on the scene, and I like shaking the sports world to its core, and I’m doing it now.”
So can “Iron Mike” beat Paul? While Paul has an impressive record: nine wines and six knockouts since he started fighting in 2018, he has yet to jump in the ring with someone of Tyson’s decades-long experience and caliber (most of Paul’s fights have been against fellow YouTubers and MMA fighters).
At 57, Tyson is 30 years older than his opponent, Paul, who is just 27. But with a career record of 50 wins and 44 knockouts, Tyson doesn’t seem phased by the age difference. “I’m beautiful. That’s all I can say,” he exclaimed to the crowd at the conference.
With Tyson holding the record as the youngest boxer ever to win a heavyweight title and more than 30 years of experience in the sport (he officially retired in 2005), he could pull out moves that Paul has never encountered on the boxing floor.
While insiders say that Paul does have the advantage of youth, “a nearly 60-year-old man just doesn’t have the stamina of someone under 30,” one fellow fighter-in-training tells EBONY, this may be a case of mind over matter for Tyson, and he isn’t afraid to put that into words.
“Once he’s in that ring, he has to fight like his life depends on it, because it will be,” Tyson declared of his young opponent. Them’s fighting words, for sure!
The Paul vs. Tyson eight-round professional bout with two-minute rounds will stream live globally, exclusively on Netflix on July 20, 2024. Remaining tickets will go on sale on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at 12 p.m. ET, with VIP packages at $2 million.
