Mike Tyson and Jake Paul are both set to land a huge payday from their fight on Netflix this Friday.
Tyson steps into the ring for his first professional fight since his defeat to Kevin McBride in June 2005 and will face Paul – a YouTube star turned boxer – at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.
The fight, which will be take place at around 4am UK time on Saturday morning, will not be shown on pay-per-view and is only available to current Netflix subscribers.
But despite Netflix’s unique approach to broadcasting the fight, it is still expected to pull a huge worldwide audience.
How much will Mike Tyson and Jake Paul earn from their fight?
At the press conference on Thursday, Paul revealed that he is making $40 million(£31.5m) from his mega fight with Tyson.
Meanwhile, Tyson is expected to earn significantly less than his 27-year-old opponent, with a figure of $20m (£15.7m) quoted by sources close to the former world heavyweight champion.
‘This fight is not going to change my life financially,’ Tyson told SPORTbible this week.
‘If I did it for free, it’s not going to change my life. My wife is constantly telling me, ‘You do not need to do this fight’. This is what I want to do, this is me. I’m seeking my glory.’
Meanwhile, boxing promoter Eddie Hearn claims Tyson is the ‘greatest example of a fighter that’s been abused’ in response to the 58-year-old’s financial difficulties during his career.
In 2003, Tyson filed for bankruptcy despite earning around $300m (£186m) during his career to date, which included £15m alone for his world title fight against Lennox Lewis 14 months earlier.
When asked how much he expects Tyson to make from his fight with Paul, Hearn said on the PBD Podcast: ‘It’s not a pay-per-view fight, it’s quite interesting, it’s subscription only on Netflix which is great, it’s going to do huge numbers. I would say $10m (£7.8m).
‘A lot of fighters have been. The greatest example of a fighter that’s been misrepresented and abused is Mike Tyson.
‘The money that was generated in his career, the reality is probably five years ago he was out of money, he’s actually had a good run now doing various bits and pieces.
‘But how can you make hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars and that’s a very common theme, particularly with fighters in the 80s. Things have changed now.’
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