Without wanting to glamourise violence – if indeed Mike Tyson slapping Jake Paul 24 hours before they step into a ring with the sole intention of beating each other up counts as violence – that’s what we’ve been waiting for.
It’s been hard to discern Tyson’s state of mind during fight week here in Dallas, Texas. He’s often a man of few words but his contribution to the press conference on Wednesday was particularly painful.
Paul described Tyson as being ‘f*****g boring’ and fans were unsure whether the sports icon was simply reserving his energy and rising about the incessant trash-talking or if, after months of promotion, he was finally giving the game away and showing his heart’s not truly in it.
This is, after all, his first pro fight in almost two decades. Once the baddest man on the planet, Tyson is now a grandfather who would soon be eligible for a free bus pass in the UK.
There was a time he defended his world heavyweight championship title nine times in a row and had won 27 fights on the bounce. He was the best boxer on the planet and one of the greatest athletes of all time. Now, he’s fighting a YouTuber-turned-boxer.
So Iron Mike would be forgiven for finding it hard to get up for the fight or to be privately reminiscing about his glory days while being insulted and threatened by an opponent 31 years his junior.
Given Tyson’s subdued, even pensive demeanour this week, it was a genuine surprise to see him slap Paul across the face at the weigh-in on Thursday night.
Fans and media alike were expecting a similarly low-key performance from the boxing great but he laid one on his opponent before security quickly stepped in and escorted him away.
Some immediately dismissed it as a PR move, an attempt to generate even more interest in an event that is expected to be one of the most-watched boxing fights ever, courtesy of it being streamed live and exclusive on Netflix.
Maybe it was pre-planned, but some fans are convinced it was Mike Tyson’s fighting instinct coming out after Jake Paul inadvertently stepped on his toes, something that was not picked up by most broadcasters.
Paul bizarrely crawled towards the face-off area on all fours but appeared to step on Tyson’s right foot when he got to his feet. Given Paul had put his trainers back on after his time on the scales and Tyson was only wearing socks, he must have felt it.
The younger man proceeded to get right up in Tyson’s grill which can’t have helped, either.
Tyson confirmed as much in a brief interview with The Post moments after the weigh-in.
‘I was in my socks and he had on shoes,’ the veteran said. ‘He stepped on my toe because he is a f****** a******.
‘I wanted to think it happened by accident. But now I think it may have happened on purpose. I was in a lot of pain. I had to reciprocate.’
Of course it should be said that someone stepping on your toes doesn’t have to result in a firm slap to the jaw, but in that charged-up, adrenaline-fuelled atmosphere, it’s easy to see why Tyson might react that way.
Many will still view the slap as one last PR stunt ahead of the controversial, potentially epic fight at the AT&T Stadium, and at the very least it whet the appetite for what’s to come.
‘Talking’s over,’ Tyson said on stage before refusing to answer any more questions from sports broadcaster Ariel Helwani and walking off.
Paul, meanwhile, who is bidding to record his 11th win from 12 pro fights, claimed he ‘didn’t even feel’ the slap and promised to knock Tyson out.
‘He’s angry, he’s an angry little elf,’ said the influencer with over 20 million subscribers on YouTube. ‘Mike Tyson, that was a cute slap buddy but tomorrow you’re getting knocked the f*** out.
‘I’m f*****g him up, I’m f*****g him up! He hits like a b***. It’s personal now, it’s personal now! He must die!’
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