Hello and welcome to our live coverage of today’s professional boxing match between Mike Tyson, the 58-year-old former world heavyweight champion, and 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
The fight, which will be streamed live on Netflix, is controversial for a number of different reasons that we will be delving into ahead of our round-by-round coverage later today. Tyson is regarded as one of the greatest boxers in history, but last fought professionally in 2005 and has faced legal troubles throughout his life. He was convicted of rape in 1992 and sentenced to six years in prison, serving three before being released on parole.
Paul has previously been accused of misconduct towards women. In 2021 Justine Paradise, a TikTok influencer, accused him of sexual assault. “This claim made against me is 100% false,” he said in a statement. Other controversies include describing the COVID-19 pandemic as “a hoax”.
Some fans have also decried the contest for pitting the former undisputed world heavyweight champion against a relative novice with a 2-1 record against professional boxers. But Paul is 31 years younger than Tyson, who has not won a fight in over 20 years, and so is the overwhelming favorite to win with most bookmakers.
The fight is also noteworthy for marking Netflix’s first foray into boxing as the streaming giant continues to focus on “sports-adjacent programming”. It will be available for no additional cost to Netflix’s nearly 300 million subscribers.
Tonight’s fight card also features the eagerly-anticipated rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano — which is itself controversial because it has been relegated to the ‘co-main event’ and will take place before Paul’s clash with Tyson.
We will be bringing you round-by-round updates of both fights, as well as all the other contests on tonight’s card, and before that we will be counting down to one of the most divisive sports events in recent memory. There are no shortage of talking points to delve into and, as ever, you can have your say by emailing livebloguk@theathletic.com.
