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That’s all for tonight. Thanks for following along with us and be sure to read Donald McRae’s report from ringside at AT&T Stadium.
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Tyson: ‘I don’t think (I’m done)’
Mike Tyson’s professional boxing record drops to 50 wins and seven losses with two no-contests. But will it stay that way for good? Surprisingly, the 58-year-old is not so sure. Asked whether he’s officially finished with boxing, Tyson pauses before saying: “I don’t know.”
Then he adds: “It depends on the situation.”
Pressed on the question, to say what his gut tells him right now, Tyson says: “I don’t think so.”
Asked what situation might bring him back for a 60th professional fight, Tyson looks over Jake Paul’s shouder at his brother Logan.
“Well, I don’t know,” Tyson says. “Maybe his brother.”
Almost as if on cue, Logan Paul’s eyes go wide: “Motherfucker. I’ll kill you.”
Good lord. It’s like if Platoon had a post-credits scene teasing the sequel.
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“He’s exactly what I thought,” says Paul when he’s asked whether Tyson was better than he’d anticipated. “One of the greatest to ever do it. He’s an icon. He’s a legend. But this night’s not about me, man. I wanted to give a thanks to all the real heroes, the US military, the doctors, the nurses in the ER, the cops, the firefighters, the farmers, the truck drivers, all the people who make this world go right. Thank you, America. It’s the era of truth. It’s the era of good. There’s a shift in the world, and good is rising.”
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Tyson is asked about the brace on his right knee, specifically whether he was dealing with an injury going into the fight.
“Yeah, but I can’t use that for excuses,” he says. “If I did, I wouldn’t be in there.”
He is then asked about why he persisted in gnawing at his glove throughout the fight during breaks in the action.
“I have a habit of biting my gloves when I fight, yes,” he says.
When asked why, his response prompts audible laugher from the crowd:
“I have a biting fixation.”
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“First and foremost, Mike Tyson: It’s such an honor,” Jake Paul says. “Let’s give it up for Mike. Bro, this is … he’s a legend. He’s the greatest to ever do it. He’s the Goat. I look up to him, I’m inspired by him and we wouldn’t be here today without him. This man is an icon and it’s just an honor to be able to fight him. And he’s obviously the toughest, baddest man on the planet.”
Tyson is asked whether he’s happy with his performance (he is) and whether he’s surprised it went the distance: “No. I knew he was a good fighter. I knew he was prepared. But I came to fight.”
Asked whether he felt he proved his doubters wrong, Tyson disputes the premise.
“I didn’t prove nothing to anybody, only to myself,” he says. “I’m not one of those guys that looks to please the world. I’m just happy with what I can do.”
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Updated at 24.47 EST
Jake Paul beats Mike Tyson by unanimous decision
To no one’s surprise Jake Paul has beaten Mike Tyson by an eight-round unanimous decision. Ringside judges Laurence Cole and Jesse Reyes handed down scores of 79-73, while David Iacobucci had it an 80-72 shutout (as did the Guardian).
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Round 8
The fighters touch gloves at the center of the ring to start the eighth and final round. Paul throws six straight jabs, landing most of the them, but not firing punches with killer instinct. Mercy? Paul floating soft jabs over the final minute, one after another, carrying his 58-year-old foe through the tape. Jake Paul might not be undefeated, but Father Time certainly is.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Paul 10-9 Tyson (Paul 80-72 Tyson)
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Updated at 24.35 EST
Round 7
Tyson showing flashes of life at the start of the seventh but the burst is short-lived. Paul simply going through the motions now. The audience is unhappy, with audible booing from pockets of the crowd. One more round of this.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Paul 10-9 Tyson (Paul 70-63 Tyson)
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Round 6
Paul’s hands are low in these exchanges but it probably doesn’t matter. He looks as loose and confident as ever, peppering away from the outside and seemingly content to box to a points win. A very low-activity round for Paul but Tyson, having trouble with his balance, either won’t or can’t let his hands go.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Paul 10-9 Tyson (Paul 60-54 Tyson)
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Updated at 24.37 EST
Round 5
Paul is boxing nicely against the opponent in front of him. He lands a one-two combination upstairs. Tyson can’t do much of anything; he looks lost under the lights. The Compubox punch statistics won’t be kind. Tyson catches Paul with a flush left hand coming inside, prompting a reaction from the crowd, but Paul seems to walk right through it. Paul is throwing and landing more. Another easy round for the younger man.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Paul 10-9 Tyson (Paul 50-45 Tyson)
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Updated at 24.37 EST
Round 4
Tyson looks tentative as the fighters meet in the center of the ring to start the fourth. Paul is circling his opponent, throwing punches sparingly. He looks confident and composed. Tyson trying to use upper-body movement to slip Paul’s shots but Paul lands a left hook. Tyson looking very much like a 58-year-old with a bad knee.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Paul 10-9 Tyson (Paul 40-36 Tyson)
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Updated at 24.29 EST
Round 3
Tyson comes out aggressively in the third, but Paul evades his flailing efforts. Paul lands three straight left hands and Tyson is wobbled. Tyson looks hurt. Paul lands a crisp left hook to Tyson’s temple. Tyson is in trouble. He’s in bad trouble. The referee should take a very close look. The 58-year-old Tyson looks exhausted, continuing to gnaw on his left glove during breaks in the action. Sad to watch.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Paul 10-9 Tyson (Paul 30-27 Tyson)
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Updated at 24.20 EST
Round 2
Paul lands a right hand to the body. Tyson legs look like they’re already stiff after giving it all in the opening frame. Paul misses with a vicious right uppercut. A lull in the action. Not much being landed by either guy in this frame. Paul catches Tyson with a left coming inside. Tyson already looked devoid of a plan, standing right in front of Paul and following him around.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Paul 10-9 Tyson (Paul 20-18 Tyson)
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Round 1
There’s the bell! The meet inthe center of the ring. Tyson lunges forward, bobbing and weaving. Tyson lands a left hand. And overhand right by Tyson. Neither bother Paul, who ties up Tyson on his next burst inside. The fighters go into the clinch once again. Paul begins circling Tyson, using the jab to try and press his five-inch reach advantage. Paul lands a crisp right hand. Tyson tries to burrow in and trap Paul against the ropes but Paul pirouettes out of harm’s way.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Paul 10-9 Tyson (Paul 10-9 Tyson)
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Updated at 24.32 EST
The waiting is over. The final instructions have been given by referee Mark Calo-oy, the seconds are out and we’ll pick it up with round-by-round coverage from here!
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… and here comes Mike Tyson. The former heavyweight champion methodically walks to the ring wearing a simple black towel. Murdergram by Murder Inc plays over the speaker. He’s into the ring. The audience is going wild. This is a Tyson crowd.
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The fighters are making their entrances for the main event. First out is Jake Paul. Lots of initial boos from the crowd as he rolls out of the tunnel inside a customized Chevy low rider seated in the backseat alongside brother Logan. In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins plays on the stadium soundsystem. Paul is wearing an studded silver robe with matching gloves. He exits the car and daps up the fans along the runway while making the final approach to the ring. Then the sound goes down …
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Updated at 24.00 EST
Hot off the presses: Donald McRae’s report off Katie Taylor’s controversial win over Amanda Serrano is live.
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Anthem time at AT&T Stadium. Former American Idol contender and two-time Grammy winner Tori Kelly is out to perform the Star-Spangled Banner. Not much longer now.
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Tale of the tape: Paul v Tyson
Here’s a look at how Tyson and Paul measure up ahead of tonight’s main event. The 31-year age gap between the fighters is said to be the largest in the history of professional boxing and by some distance, eclipsing the 24 years that separated Archie Moore, who was 49, and Mike DiBiase, who was 25, when they met in 1963. (Moore won by third-round knockout.)
Paul, who tipped the scales at a career-high 227.2lbs at yesterday’s weigh-in, will enjoy advantages in height (three inches) and reach (five inches). Tyson came in at 228.4lbs. That’s about 10lbs heavier than his fighting weight during his imperial era (1987-89), but about 10lbs lighter than his career high of 239.75lbs for his 2001 fight with Brian Nielsen in Copenhagen.
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How much are Tyson and Paul getting paid for this? It’s another one of the most frequently asked questions around tonight’s event. It has been rumored that Paul will earn $40m (£31.6m) for Friday’s event while Tyson is said to be making $20m (£15.8m).
Taylor will reportedly bring in $6.1m (£4.8m) for her co-feature rematch with Serrano, whose takehome is thought to be around $8m (£6.3m). That would be an extraordinary come-up for the Nuyorican seven-weight champion, who once was paid $1,500 for a world title defense. And good lordy, did they earn every last penny.
We tried to confirm these figures on Thursday with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), the state commission regulating the card, but they denied our open records request under the Texas Public Information Act (PIA) for the pay sheet in the fight contract and referred us to the promoters. The rumors must suffice for now.
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Next up is the main event: Jake Paul v Mike Tyson. There’s still so much to unpack from that instant classic between Taylor and Serrano, but the card doesn’t stop for us to catch our breath and we’ll pass along Donald McRae’s ringside report as soon as it’s published.
Tyson has not been in the mood for trash talk in the final run-up to tonight’s fight. He’s maintained a stoic quietude throughout the events of fight week (with the occasional exception), which at times has frustrated Paul. Here’s McRae’s dispatch from the final press conference.
Paul was frustrated. “It’s cute,” he initially said of Tyson’s reticence. But then the YouTuber declared: “I fear no man. I want him to be that old savage Mike … I want there to be no excuses when I knock him out.”
Paul then complained directly to Tyson: “There’s a lot of shit-talk online saying you’re going to kill me, and just nothing in person. Is that what you’re going to do?”
Tyson shrugged. “I’m just ready.”
Paul looked irate. “It’s pretty fucking boring,” he whined.
He rose from his seat to challenge the fighters on the undercard who had picked Tyson to beat him. Nine of those 12 fighters sided with Tyson and Paul goaded many of them into taking bets on the outcome.
Tyson knows that, closing on 60 and having been out of the ring so long, none of this matters. He has little left but so many terrible things have happened in his life, or been meted out to others by him, that there is nothing new to say. He sank deeper into silence.
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“Everyone said the judges was going to be a little shady, but listen, I came here, I chose to be great,” Serrano says. “I went up three divisions. I dare to be great tonight. I am the featherweight champion of the world and I want to be great.”
Serrano adds: “(Taylor) kept headbutting me. But we knew that from the very beginning, from the first fight. That’s what they do. She did not only my fight she did it with Chantelle Cameron. Listen, I’m a Boricua. I’m going to die in this ring no matter how many cuts I have in my face.”
Asked whether she believed Taylor’s headbutts were intentional, Serrano is to the point.
“I think 100%, because she does it in every fight. It’s not the first fight.”
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Katie Taylor retains titles by unanimous decision
Controversy! Katie Taylor has retained her undisputed junior welterweight title by a unanimous-decision win over a brave Amanda Serrano. All three judges handed down scores of 95-94.
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Updated at 23.19 EST
Round 10
An absolute war. Difficult to watch. Two fighters throwing everything at one another, leaving defense at the door. Taylor nicks it on our card with Serrano narrowly winning a decision, the referee’s highly one-point deduction making the difference. Unbelieveable fight.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Taylor 10-9 Serrano (Taylor 94-95 Serrano)
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Round 9
A strong ninth from Serrano, who is in the fight of her life. Both fighters trading punches in high frequency, blinding two-way action, so little to separate them. Serrano takes in our card, just.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Taylor 9-10 Serrano (Taylor 84-86 Serrano)
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Round 8
A sensational fight, equally as dramatic as the first. Serrano is blinded in her right eye from the blood gushing from that cut, but she is moving forward and throwing punches in combination. At the end of the round, the referee deducts a point from Taylor for a head butt. That’s a very questionable call in a close fight where it might make the difference.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Taylor 8-10 Serrano (Taylor 75-76 Serrano)
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Round 7
These two are leaving it all in the ring! A fact-paced round with more two-way action. Serrano is nothing short of a warrior for fighting through this gruesome cut, but Taylor is winning on the inside owing to her blinding handspeed.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Taylor 10-9 Serrano (Taylor 67-66 Serrano)
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Round 6
Serrano is landing more punches but Taylor is landing at a better percentage. Suddenly the cut bursts wide open from a punch. The referee stops the action and calls for the ringside physicial to inspect the cut, which is an massive gash on her right eyebrow from an accidental headbutt.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Taylor 9-10 Serrano (Taylor 57-57 Serrano)
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Updated at 23.03 EST
Round 5
Who’s leading this fight depends if you prefer Taylor’s boxing or Serrano’s pressure. But this cut over Serrano’s eye is a horrorshow and very dangerous. They may have to stop the fight before the scheduled 10 rounds.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Taylor 10-9 Serrano (Taylor 48-47 Serrano)
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Round 4
Serrano is cut over the right eye from head butt in the fourth round. Lots of two-way action with Taylor getting the better of the firefights.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Taylor 10-9 Serrano (Taylor 38-38 Serrano)
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Round 3
Taylor is boxing better in the third, showing good hand speed as Serrano continues to stalk her around the ring. The champion is moving almost exclusively in reverse with a worried look on her face.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Taylor 10-9 Serrano (Taylor 28-29 Serrano)
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Round 2
As reports of Netflix server outages swallow up the internet, we’re playing catchup with our own technical issues. Serrano continues to sit down on her punches in the second round, getting the better of Taylor as she continues to box and move.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Taylor 9-10 Serrano (Taylor 18-20 Serrano)
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Round 1
And we’re off! They meet in the center of the ring. Taylor looks to establish the left jab with several offerings before Serrano throws a punch. Serrano looks to trap Taylor in a corner but Taylor lands a crisp counter upstairs. Taylor fighting off the back foot as Serrano comes forward, the champion looking to set traps. Serrano lands a left hand. Taylor is using lateral movement to remain an elusive target. Then in the closing seconds Serrano lands a massive left hand! A left hand flush to Taylor’s jaw that wobbles the champion! Taylor was hurt but she is saved by the bell!
Guardian’s unofficial score: Taylor 9-10 Serrano (Taylor 9-10 Serrano)
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The fighters have been announced by the emcee. The final instructions have been given by the referee, the seconds are out and we’ll pick it up with round-by-round coverage from here!
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Updated at 24.02 EST
Serrano and Taylor are making their entrances. It’s Serrano first as she strides to the squared circle down a long runway flanked by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. She’s wearing a bulletproof vest, a signpost that she’s ready for war.
And now here comes Taylor! She is making her entrance to Hillsong Worship’s Awake My Soul. It might seem like a unusual choice if it’s your first time watching her, but it was her ringwalk song for the first Serrano fight at Madison Square Garden and provided a positively spine-tingling moment ahead of the fight of her life. No surprise she’s tapping into that energy once again.
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Donald McRae
There are pockets of empty seats but this magnificent stadium is pretty full and it’s starting to rock. The atmosphere is still different to the first Serrano-Taylor fight at MSG as it lacks that remarkable outpouring of partisan support from passionate, yet friendly, armies of Puerto Rican and Irish fans. Footage of these great female fighters going through their final preparations in the locker room a few minutes ago did not elicit the noise that greeted the earlier arrival of Mike Tyson. But I still expect Serrano and Taylor to provide compelling viewing … and for the noise to rise with them.
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Tale of the tape: Taylor v Serrano
Here’s a look at how Taylor and Serrano measure up ahead of tonight’s co-feature attraction. Physically, there’s not much to separate them. They both tipped the scales at an identical 137.4lbs at yesterday’s weigh-in, a clean 2.6lbs below the division limit. Serrano has a slight half-inch edge in height, while Taylor has the same advantage in reach. Their knockout percentages make it clear this is a match between the fighter and the boxer: Serrano has stopped 62% of her opponents inside the distance compared to 25% for Taylor.
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The stars are out in Big D! It might not be Frank Sinatra in the photo pit at Madison Square Garden for the first Ali-Frazier scrap. But a cadre of celebs have made the trip to Arlington for tonight’s fights, among them Jeff Ross, Mike Epps, Joey Fatone and Haliey Welch (aka the Hawk Tuah girl).
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Next up is the eagerly awaited rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. It’s a replay of a disputed split decision won by Taylor in a slugfest at sold-out Madison Square Garden two years ago. At stake: the undisputed women’s super lightweight championship held by Taylor, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist widely regarded as one of the greatest female boxers to ever take up the gloves.
It was the night that women’s boxing has desperately sought and deserved for years: the first summit meeting between the consensus No 1 and No 2 on the men’s or women’s pound-for-pound list since the second fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Márquez in 2008. Organizers planned for a crowd of about 10,000, then were forced to reconfigure the seating to open the entire arena due to unanticipated demand. In the end Taylor and Serrano became the first women to headline a boxing event at the storied venue.
And the fight managed to exceed the breathless hype that preceded it. My heart was pounding so much I had a headache.
Our Donald McRae caught up with Taylor earlier in the week ahead of tonight’s rematch.
Taylor listens to my misgivings about the night at the AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, and the fact that Tyson should not be allowed back in the ring for a competitive fight. “I do definitely have those same concerns,” she admits, “but he did look very good against Roy Jones (in a drawn eight-round exhibition in November 2020). He definitely hasn’t lived the cleanest life since then but I think over the last few years he’s cleaned himself up. We’re hoping that shows through on the night, but he obviously has amazing experience and nothing is going to faze Mike Tyson.”
Taylor is an ambassador for the old-school boxing company, Everlast, which has been making fight clothing and equipment since 1910, and aligns herself firmly with traditionalists of the ring. Taylor clearly loves the sport with an enduring fervour and sounds hopeful when I ask if Tyson could beat his much younger rival. “I think so. I’ve seen clips of him training recently and he looks very good on the pads. But Jake is a fit man, a young man and a good athlete as well. He seems to have an OK punch and he’s starting to prove himself as a fighter. It’s very interesting, but I have a real soft spot for Mike Tyson.
“I think if you’re a boxing person, it really matters that he does well and hopefully wins because Mike Tyson is an absolute legend in sport. He was once known as the baddest man on the planet. He’s super exciting to watch, a real iconic boxer. I have so much respect for him for what he did in the sport and I’d hate for a legend like him to lose a matchup like this. He’s a hero to many of us fighters.”
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Mario Barrios retains WBC welterweight title by split draw
What a fight! Mario Barrios has retained his WBC welterweight title by the skin of his teeth, fighting to a split draw with heavy underdog Abel Ramos. One judge had it 114-112 for Ramos, another scored it 116-110 for Barrios while the third had it 113-113. (The Guardian scored it 115-111 for Barrios.)
“I know it was a close fight,” Barrios says. “I knew Abel was going to come with everything. I knew I had a hard task in front of me. I was finding success in the early rounds, but he made the adjustments to where he committed a war. After that I started feeling like I couldn’t really find my rhythm, how I wanted to.
“And then the fight ended up how it did. Hat’s off to him. It was a hell of a performance. I hope everybody Here in the AT&T Stadium was happy with the fight.”
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Updated at 22.08 EST
Why is Paul v Tyson? The 27-year-old influencer, who has managed to develop into a competent boxer since taking up the sport and turning professional in 2020, winning 10 of 11 bouts against mostly faded MMA fighters and fellow YouTubers, insists it’s another step toward his quixotic goal of winning a world title, saying: “My sights are set on becoming a world champion, and now I have a chance to prove myself against the greatest heavyweight champion ever, the baddest man on the planet and the most dangerous boxer of all time.”
True as that may be, the short money is no small incentive. Paul closed a lucrative deal with Netflix last November to stream one of his upcoming fights before Tyson was even in the frame. The interest (and money) only ballooned with the addition of the former heavyweight champion, who had not fought in an official bout since quitting on his stool after six rounds against Irish journeyman Kevin McBride in June 2005.
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Donald McRae
The atmosphere was building slowly and then, around 8.20pm local time, footage of Jake Paul’s arrival was greeted with a little roar. Nothing dramatic but noisy enough to divert my attention from the early stages of the bout between Mario Barrios and Abel Ramos. But then, in the moment of the night so far, we saw live pictures of Mike Tyson walking to his locker room. The massive and sustained roar was strangely moving. It was much, much louder than the reception for Paul and suggests that this is going to be a very-pro Tyson crowd. It felt like a real moment …
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Upset alert! Abel Ramos went off as a nearly 8-1 underdog in his title fight with Mario Barrios. But Ramos just detonated a massive right hand on the champion’s chin that dropped him to the canvas in the sixth round of an already close fight. The WBC welterweight title hangs in the balance …
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Updated at 21.36 EST
This week our Sean Ingle wrote about his personal disdain for Paul v Tyson, saying it “feels more like a sham or a circus than a genuine sporting event”. That said, he can’t deny there’s a robust market for it.
Most boxing fans (hate the idea of Paul v Tyson). It sells a myth that wasn’t even close to being a reality in 2004, let alone 2024: namely that Tyson is one of the most ferocious warriors alive, not a 58-year-old who lost 26lb in May after an ulcer flare-up that left him throwing up blood and defecating tar. It risks Tyson’s boxing reputation and his health. And, Netflix’s lavish promotion aside, it feels more like a sham or a circus than a genuine sporting event.
But I may be wrong. Certainly (legendary British publicist Mark) Borkowksi thinks so. He believes the fight is straight out of the playbook of PT Barnum, the greatest showman of all and a curator of the absurd and extraordinary, who instinctively knew what the public wanted long before they did. And that it will cut through to the masses.
“Barnum understood how to engage the crowd – the great herd, the great unwashed,” he says. “This fight is about opportunism. It’s about creative thinking. And it is already generating the oxygen of publicity, which is always an indication that something is going to be very successful.”
As Borkowski points out, it taps into two big markets: Boomers and Gen Xers, who grew up watching Tyson, as well as the younger generations who worship Jake Paul, many of whom will want to watch.
“A lot of people, particularly boys, project themselves into male influencers like Paul,” he says. “In some ways, they are their best mates – whether it’s watching them play Call of Duty, or seeing the Jackass-influenced generation of pranksters doing outrageous things on social. So they will be watching this. And so will those who grew up with Tyson in his prime. So while purists might sneer, there’s a market for this. And Netflix knows it.”
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Updated at 21.28 EST
Moving right along. Next up is the first of two world title fights on the televised undercard: Mario Barrios and Abel Ramos in a scheduled 12-round fight for Barrios’ World Boxing Council welterweight championship.
It’s worth mentioning the 29-year-old from San Antonio never earned his title in the ring, instead being declared champion by the WBC after previous holder Terence Crawford (who’d unified all four belts at 147lbs) moved up a weight class to fight Israil Madrimov.
Some of the most illustrious names in the history of boxing have owned the WBC welterweight belt over the years, among them Crawford, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Pernell Whitaker, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Emile Griffith.
Barrios, a former beltholder at 140lbs, has a long way to go before joining that elite class, but he can take his first step tonight by getting through Ramos, a sizable underdog who has lost three of his past five outings.
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A random thought as we await the next fight. Paul getting top billing over Tyson in all of the the promotional materials for tonight’s main event may seem strange given the chasm between their boxing accomplishments, but it’s not as unusual as it seems. The matter of whose name comes first on the poster, and other issues like the order the fighters make their ring entrances, are usually sorted out during the contract negotiations. The so-called A-side of a promotion typically calls the shots and it’s no surprise that Paul, whose Most Valuable Promotions company is organizing the event, fills that role.
What is unusual is seeing the fight listed on the primary ticket vendor’s website as Jake Paul w/ Mike Tyson, which appears to further downgrade Tyson from B-side to something of a backing singer.
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Ultimately, it’s not a big deal. But it’s certainly a choice given the larger-than-normal skepticism around the competitive merit of tonight’s feature attraction.
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Is Jake Paul v Mike Tyson for real? It’s the most common question we’ve fielded over the past few weeks. And the answer is, technically, yes. Unlike many of the similar novelty bouts throughout boxing history, the fight between Paul and Tyson is not an exhibition.
Despite concerns over the fighters’ three-decade age difference, along with Tyson’s inactivity and track record of health issues, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) determined the former champion’s physical condition met the criteria for the fight to be officially sanctioned. That means there will be three judges at ringside, an official winner will be declared and the result will count on their records. (It also means that sportsbooks can taking betting action on it, although at least six US states have deemed the event too untraditional to allow wagering.)
The Texas commission has taken some precautions. The fight will be scheduled for eight rounds instead of the typical 10 or 12, with two-minute rounds instead of the customary three. Tyson and Paul will also use 14oz gloves instead of the usual 10oz in order to lessen the power of the punches.
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The first televised undercard bout is in the books. Neeraj Goyat has won a clean six-round unanimous decision over Whindersson Nunes. It was nearly a total shutout with the three ringside judges handing down scores of 59-55 and 60-54 (twice).
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As expected, tonight’s card has shattered the record for the largest US boxing gate outside of Las Vegas. The promoters say the live gate for Paul v Tyson has surpassed $17.8 (£14.1), nearly twice the previous state record for a boxing or MMA event of $9m from Canelo Álvarez’s fight with Billy Joe Saunders in 2021.
Organizers said they are expecting more than 70,000 fans for tonight’s fights at AT&T Stadium, the 80,000-home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas. As the Netflix telecast began at 7pm local time, thousands of box-office and resale tickets priced as low as $40 were still available, meaning any walk-up crowd may further raise the gate total.
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Updated at 20.45 EST
Donald McRae
It’s still early here and at least two hours before Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor make their ringwalks. They are in the best and most meaningful fight of the night. Like Bryan, I was at Madison Square Garden in April 2022 when they produced one of the great fights in recent memory. The atmosphere in the Garden that night was incredible, as the Puerto Rican and Irish fans whipped up an exhilarating racket that matched the fight itself.
My memory might be playing tricks and perhaps it was pretty quiet two hours before Serrano and Taylor fought in the Garden. But I seem to remember that the joint was jumping with anticipation all through the build-up.
Here in the AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys of course, the mood is a mellow hum. People seem chilled out and the arena is about a quarter full at the moment. But, so far, there is no real sign of any influx of Taylor supporters either from Ireland or across America. There are also no songs or chants from either the Irish or Puerto Rican contingents. I am sure they will arrive in full voice soon, but most people I’ve seen look like they’re here for the circus of Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
But give it another two hours and I think this stunning stadium will be so much noisier and more fevered than it is now …
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Updated at 20.29 EST
Time for some boxing. India’s Neeraj Goyat and Brazil’s Whindersson Nunes have made their way to the ring for a six-round middleweight fight following a flashy performance by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders to AC/DC’s Thunderstruck.
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Here’s what’s happened so far. Let’s do a little housekeeping before going any further and pass along the results from the non-televised undercard. We’ve had three fights so far before a mostly empty AT&T Stadium crowd:
Bruce ‘Shu Shu’ Carrington, a blue-chip featherweight prospect from Brooklyn signed with Top Rank Promotions, improved to 14 wins in 14 fights with an eight-round unanimous-decision win over late replacement Dana Coolwell. The Brownsville native dropped his opponent two times including in the final round, but Coolwell beat the count and made it to the final bell. Carrington won in a complete shutout with all three ringside judges handing down scores of 80-70.
Lucas Bahdi moved closer to a world title shot after the unbeaten lightweight prospect handed Italy’s Armando Casamonica his first defeat with a disputed majority-decision win in a closer-than-expected 10-rounder. The heavy-handed Canadian was met with stiff resistance by the late replacement Casamonica, who took the fight on 10 days’ notice when Corey Marksman dropped out with a training injury. One judge had it a reasonable 95-95 while the other two handed down risible scores of 96-93 and 98-92 for Bahdi.
Shadasia Green, the former basketball player from Patterson, New Jersey, is a world champion at the second time of asking after winning a razor-thin 10-round split decision over Toronto’s Melinda Watpool for the WBO women’s super middleweight championship. Two of the three judges scored it for the 35-year-old known as the Sweet Terminator, overruling the third who had it 96-94 for Watpool in a fight where there was little to separate the two. Green had falled short in her first title shot last year, dropping a unanimous decision to Franchon Crews Dezurn for the vacant WBC strap.
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to AT&T Stadium for a night at the fights unlike any we can immediately remember. Mike Tyson is ending a 7,097-day layoff from professional fighting to face the boxer-influencer Jake Paul in a non-title heavyweight bout scheduled for eight rounds at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
If you’re reading this, it’s unlikely Tyson needs any introduction. In 1986, at 20 years old, the Brooklyn native became the youngest heavyweight champion in history, laying waste to Trevor Berbick inside two rounds to win the World Boxing Council title. After unifying the other major title belts, the nominal Baddest Man on the Planet made six defenses of the undisputed heavyweight championship before losing in a historic upset to James ‘Buster’ Douglas by 10th-round knockout in February 1990. Convicted of rape in 1992 and sentenced to six years in prison, Tyson served three years before being released on parole and was never again the same destructive force, closing his professional ledger with six wins and five defeats with two no-contests.
While Tyson remains one of the most recognizable people in the world nearly two decades after his last official fight, there are few people under the age of 30 who don’t know Paul. After cultivating an enormous public profile on Vine and YouTube alongside elder brother Logan, the Cleveland native has managed to develop into a competent boxer since taking up the sport and turning professional in 2020. He’s had 11 paying fights since then, mostly against former mixed martial arts fighters and journeyman boxers with the odd retired NBA player thrown in. His lone setback came by split decision to Tommy Fury last year, but he’s won four on the trot since then including a July knockout of Mike Perry, a veteran of the MMA and bare-knuckle boxing circuits.
Some have called it a circus. But with two world title fights on the TV undercard, including Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in a hotly anticipated rematch of their 2022 classic, there’s plenty of value on offer for viewers who aren’t keen on watching two men with 31 years between them exchange leather.
The live Netflix broadcast starts in 15 minutes and there will be three preliminary bouts ahead of the main event. The order of play will be as follows:
It’s uncertain when Paul and Tyson will make their entrances for the main event, but it won’t happen before 10pm local time. That’s 11pm on the US east coast and 4am in the UK.
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Updated at 19.47 EST
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s his explainer with everything you need to know about tonight’s event.
Mike Tyson is returning to professional boxing for the first time in nearly two decades on Friday night in Texas. The 58-year-old former undisputed heavyweight champion is fighting YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a made-for-Netflix showdown expected to draw a global audience of around 300m viewers.
But is that all you really need to know? What about the rules, how much they’re getting paid and the *checks notes* 31-year age difference. Read on for all the answers …
Where and when is the fight?
The seven-fight card is being held at the 80,000-capacity AT&T Stadium, the $1.2bn home of the NFL’s Cowboys in Arlington, about 20 miles west of Dallas. It’s hard to pin down an exact time for the main event, but Paul and Tyson will not make their entrances before 11pm ET (4am GMT).
Where can I watch it?
The broadcast will stream live globally on Netflix starting at 8pm ET (1am GMT) at no additional cost to subscribers. There will be three televised preliminary fights, including Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in a hotly anticipated rematch of their 2022 classic, leading up to the main event. The stream will feature options for live commentary in English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French and German.
The first three undercard bouts not carried by the Netflix stream will be available free on Most Valuable Promotions’ YouTube, Netflix Sports YouTube and Tudum starting at 5.30pm ET (10.30pm GMT).
Who else is fighting?
Hearn isn’t alone in calling it a circus. But with two world title fights on the TV undercard, there’s plenty of value on offer for viewers who aren’t keen on watching two men with more than 30 years between them exchange blows. The order of play is as follows:
The best fight on the card by some distance is Taylor’s rematch with Serrano in defense of all four major title belts at 140lbs. Their first encounter before a sold-out Madison Square Garden two years ago was a contest of extreme physical and psychological intensity that somehow exceeded the breathless hype that preceded it. My heart was pounding so much I had a headache. If Friday night’s second installment matches it for drama, don’t be surprised if they close out the trilogy with a third before 90,000 at Croke Park.
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