Jake Paul and Mike Tyson had to be separated on stage at their final face off after a ceremonial weigh in before their highly anticipated fight on Friday night in Texas
Mike Tyson finally snapped as he slapped Jake Paul in the final face off ahead of their fight on Friday night.
Tyson has seemed disengaged and somewhat disinterested in the days leading up to the bout. That was particularly apparent at Wednesday’s press conference where he barely said a word.
But after both had taken to the scales for a ceremonial weigh-in, Paul crawled towards him and got up close for their face off on stage. And the former heavyweight king responded with a right-handed slap.
The pair were separated by security. Host Ariel Helwani tried to get a word from Tyson, who declared: "It's over". When asked why he hit Paul, he simply walked off.
Paul, meanwhile, declared: "It's personal now" and declared the 58-year-old "must die" as a result. Paul fumed: "I didn't even feel it, he's angry.
"He's an angry little elf and he's getting knocked the ---- out. I'm ------- knocking him out. He hits like a ----- It's personal now; he must die."
Tyson, who scaled 228.4lb at Thursday morning's weigh-in while Paul weighed in at 227.2lb, said simply: "It's time".
Paul and Tyson had officially weighed in earlier in the day. But their weights were not made public before the ceremonial event. Before it all kicked off, Paul tipped the scales at 227.2lbs with Tyson only slightly heavier at 228.4lbs.
Speaking earlier in the week, Paul insisted the fight will not got the distance. He said: “No, someone's getting put to sleep. It's going to be a war and we're both heavy hitters. It's not going the full 16 minutes.”
Speaking about the magnitude of the event at Wednesday's press conference, Paul said: “Well, the people speak for themselves. I don't even have to ask them. [This is the] biggest live gate in U.S. boxing history outside of Las Vegas. Numbers don't lie. People want to see this and that's an amazing accomplishment.
"Credit to Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano and Mike and everyone on the card as well. [...] We all did this together, and this is a statement that we had the biggest live gate outside of Vegas in U.S. boxing history.”
