ARLINGTON, Texas — Pro boxers Jake Paul and Mike Tyson are, quite clearly, ready to rumble. At their Thursday night weigh-in, fans even got a little preview of Friday's hotly anticipated, Netflix-broadcast match at Arlington's AT&T Stadium.
At the conclusion of the livestreamed weigh-in, the 58-year-old Tyson slapped his 27-year-old opponent while fans cheered on.
The trash talk started earlier in the week during Wednesday's pre-fight press conference.
YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul offered up a stark prediction: "He’s going to look nice when he is on the mat and I am standing over him."
His iconic opponent, meanwhile, offered up some advice: "Be in good shape," Tyson said, "because your health depends on it."
There's a lot on the line in this match -- and not just for the boxers involved, although reports say Paul is getting $40 million just for getting in the ring and Tyson set to take home $20 million of his own. The event is also testing the formula for how boxing is delivered to the masses -- a first-ever combat sports offering from the streaming platform instead of the usual pay-per-view or traditional cable presentation.
As Netflix offers a live broadcast of the bout -- originally scheduled for July 20, but postponed when Tyson had to be treated for a stomach ulcer after falling ill on a flight -- at no additional cost to its more than 280 million subscribers globally, a crowd of at least 60,000 is expected to fill AT&T Stadium.
That means big bucks for the City of Arlington too, officials say. While the Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB) is still awaiting exact data on ticket sales, its CEO and President Brent DeRaad says the event will bring an estimated $10 million impact to the city. That impact comes from people spending money at restaurants, bars and hotels around the city.
Patrons will likely need reservations at new hotspots around town like Soy Cowboy.
Meanwhile, hotels.com reports a 260% increase in demand for Arlington area hotels the night of the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight compared to the same day last year, with rates also up 80% compared to last year, according to Hotels.com. The city's hotel rates for that night are the second-highest seen in Arlington this year, surpassed only by this past weekend's Cowboys vs. Eagles game.
Loews Arlington Hotel & Convention Center General Manager Stephen Cummins said Netflix alone reserved more than 400 rooms for the weekend of the fight, with the remaining 400-plus rooms that were open to the public selling out quickly.
Several states wouldn’t sanction the bout given the three-decade age difference between the fighters. Texas agreed to it only if it would last eight rounds instead of 10 or 12, with two-minute rounds instead of three and with heavier gloves designed to lessen the power of punches.
Arlington Mayor Jim Ross says those other states' loss is his city's gain.
“It puts us on the world stage like nobody’s business," Ross said. "People all around the world will be watching this fight."
Meanwhile, DeRaad and his team at the ACVB will be watching those from around the world who are descending upon Arlington for it.
"We’ll know even down to the zip code where these folks came from," DeRaad said. "We’ll know the destination they came from to get to AT&T, and we will know their first destination afterwards. So, for us, it’s really robust data.”
That data will help the ACVB plan better for other upcoming big events that will draw thousands to the entertainment district. Just two years from now, the district will play host to as big an event as exists across the world, hosting nine matches in the 2026 World Cup.
The Tyson-Paul match certainly has plenty of buzz on its own.
While Paul is still relatively new to the sport, the one-time social media influencer is bringing to the match a 10-1 record with seven knockouts -- mostly against mixed martial artists and journeymen boxers. And then there's Tyson, who was 50-6 with 44 knockouts when he retired after losing to Kevin McBride in 2005, saying he didn't have anything left to give the sport. He last fought in an exhibition against Roy Jones Jr. with no fans during the pandemic in 2020.
The two come off like polar opposites, which just contributes to the intrigue over who'll come out on top. At Thursday's weigh-in, it became abundantly obvious that all parties involved -- the city, the fans, the fighters themselves -- are ready to learn the answer.
“The talk is over,” said a 228-pound Tyson as the event came to its rather abrupt end in the wake of his slap.
Before storming off stage, the 227-pound Paul screamed his own perspective on the matter into the microphone: "Now, it's personal.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.