Ladies and gentlemen: Are you ready to rumble?!
Well, too bad — we’re rumbling anyway. Nearly one year to the day after being announced — and following one false start in July due to stomach ulcers — Jake Paul and Mike Tyson will face off in the ring Friday night for one of the most mega-hyped events in sports history.
This unlikely showdown between Paul, a 27-year-old former YouTube star, and Tyson, a 58-year-old former undisputed heavyweight with his own, Gen X-beloved video game, is virtually impossible to ignore — and marks a giant leap forward in terms of Netflix‘s live-streaming ambitions.
If promoters Most Valuable Promotions are to be believed, the fight will be the most-watched in history. Netflix has not announced any viewership expectations. Paul himself has predicted that 25 million will tune in.
Before a single punch has been thrown, it has already been one of the most debated, reviled and mocked fights ever mounted. That’s because Paul, a former YouTuber, relishes his reputation as the “Problem Child” of the sport — a spoiled, mean-spirited rich kid and interloper in a sport where he has no business being.
There seems to be no consensus on what might happen, though the oddsmakers are heavily in Paul’s favor — he has the advantage of youth, after all, to the tune of 31 years. Some even worry he might seriously injure Tyson.
But there are those who think Tyson still has the fire in him and will make good on his pledge to “end” Paul. A good portion of the audience is surely tuning in to witness just that. And the day began with drama, with Tyson slapping Paul at the weigh-in after Paul stepped on the former champion’s toes. The moment was not staged, according to Paul’s rep, who says the toe-smooshing was accidental. Tyson suspects otherwise.
“I was in my socks and he had on shoes,” Tyson later said. “He stepped on my toe because he is a fucking asshole. I want to think it happened by accident. But now I think it may have happened on purpose. I was in a lot of pain. I had to reciprocate.”
The main card kicked off at 5 p.m. E.T., broadcasting live from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, where the announcer asked: “Who will be the ultimate alpha: The influencer or the icon?” I will be following tonight’s events and updating this live blog as the evening progresses. Having recently spent some time with Paul at his training compound in Puerto Rico for a Hollywood Reporter cover story, I bring a unique, insider perch from which to comment — plus I’m bathed in free samples of W by Jake Paul, the body spray of champions.
So stick around — and like W by Jake Paul, keep refreshing!
7:11 p.m. PT Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ mic goes out, resulting in a Marcel Marceau moment. Jones has previously called Paul the best marketer in sports. (The event is reportedly sold out — that’s 70,000 tickets. So he may be on to something.)
7:08 p.m. PT Nakisa Bidarian, Paul’s business manager Svengali, doing his best Don King. “My hope is these two guys who were friends before will be friends once again,” he says of SlapGate II (SlapGate I will always be the 2022 Oscars). Will Smith and Chris Rock haven’t buried the hatchet yet — perhaps Paul and Tyson can show them the path to peace.
7:04 p.m. PT “Oh, I stepped on his wittle toe? … I’m in his head,” Paul says, live, of Tyson, adding that he has no nerves ahead of the fight. Then he mentions W, available in Walmart. (Priorities.) His prediction? “K.O in four or five rounds.” We’ll see, Mr. Paul. We. Shall. See.
7:02 p.m. PT Barrios says it was a respectful fight with “no need for trash talk.” Shade thrown!
6:56 p.m. PT Barrios vs. Ramos go the full 12 rounds. By all accounts it was a fight well fought. After a deliberation, one judge votes for Barrios, one for Ramos, and the final judge declares it a draw. The result is a split-draw. The audience boos in disapproval. How anticlimactic. Hopefully Paul-Tyson gives us a definitive winner.
6:52 p.m. PT There seems to be some online debate about whether or not Rosie Perez has a Walk of Fame star. According to our research, she does not.
6:44 p.m. PT The Hollywood references are flying fierce and fast! Sitting ringside are none other than Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, who totally coincidentally star in the Netflix series Cobra Kai. Someone mentions Macchio is getting a star on the Walk of Fame on Nov. 20, touchingly right next to his late The Karate King co-star Pat Morita. One of tonight’s announcers is Rosie Perez; the actress is a huge boxing fan and boxes herself. She also conducted a recent interview with Tyson in Interview magazine in which Tyson confessed to smoking poison toad venom. Why? Why not!
6:24 p.m. PT Paul and Tyson have entered the building! This fight is happening. Paul looks resplendent in a violet suit that would turn Prince green with envy. He’s literally spraying W by Jake Paul all over himself, making him very similar to me. His girlfriend, Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam, 25, is on his arm. His arrival is met with — uh, silence? Tyson, meanwhile, struts in in a custom leather jacket that tells the story of his career. It’s reminiscent of the 8-ball jacket that caused a legendary bitch slap fest on a New York subway — so in that sense it’s a nicely self-referential piece of outerwear. His arrival gets a hero’s welcome. Big cheers. If it wasn’t already obvious, we have a clear favorite.
6:13 p.m. PT Welcome! We are live from AT&T Stadium in Arlington and well into the second bout of the main card. Wasting no time in fully maximizing this mega-marketing opportunity is Netflix, whose Pink Soldiers are seated ringside in a Squid Game tie-in. (Season 2 premieres Dec. 26 — and like Paul, they currently grace the cover of THR.) Between the first fight (Neeraj Goyat vs. WHindersson Nunes) and the second, current fight (Mario Barrios vs. Abel Ramos), the broadcast desk was visited by former heavyweight champions Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield. Both seemed reluctant to call the fight, though Lewis mentioned Tyson was doing the fight “for money” and that “he may have bitten off more than he can chew.” Lead booth analyst Andre Ward jumped in: “No pun intended.” (Tyson famously bit off a portion of Holyfield’s ear in 1996.) Yikes.
