July 20th will see Youtuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul tasked with defeating the former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in a boxing fight. This fight will be classified as a sanctioned, professional bout by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations. Their bout will take place over eight two-minute rounds with both fighters using 14-ounce gloves. Due to this being a professional fight both fighter’s records will be affected.
“Mike Tyson and Jake Paul signed on to fight each other with the desire to do so in a sanctioned professional fight that would have a definitive outcome,” Most Valuable Promotions co-founder Nakisa Bidarian said in a statement to ESPN. “Over the past six weeks, MVP has worked with its partners to satisfy the requirements of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations (TDLR) to sanction Paul vs. Tyson, and we are grateful that we have gotten to this point.” Since the announcement of the fight, which will take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas and will be streamed on Netflix, there were questions surrounding what the rules would be given the two fighters have more than a three-decade age difference.
Jake Paul Will Face Mike Tyson in the Boxing Ring
Jake Paul is considerably younger than his opponent with the age gap being 31 years between the two fighters. Their fight will break the record for the biggest age difference in the history of professional boxing. The previous record was a 24-year difference. This took place when 49-year-old Archie Moore took on 25-year-old Mike DiBiase back in 1963. That evening Moore was able to defeat DiBiase by a 3rd round TKO. However, unlike Mike Tyson Moore was still quite active. This is due to Moore fighting 4 times when he was 48 years old before retiring aged 49.
Mike Tyson and Jake Paul Backstories
Since facing Ray Jones Jr in an 8-round exhibition bout back in 2020 Mike Tyson hasn’t competed professionally since. However, during the fight, he exceeded everyone’s expectations during the fight which ended as a split draw. That fight wouldn’t go down on either fighter’s record.
Jake Paul on the other hand had a sudden rise in combat sports. This was when he was able to knock out NBA player Nate as the co-main event of Tyson-Jones. Since that event, Jake Paul has become a staple in big-money events. This was during the recent wave of fighters crossing over to the sport of Boxing. This is due to Jake Paul being able to get victories over former UFC Stars Tyron Woodley, Ben Askren, Anderson Silva and Nate Diaz.
However, more recently Jake Paul has redirected his energy into facing actual boxers instead of former MMA fighters turning Boxers. This was after Jake Paul left due to a split-decision defeat to Tommy Fury in 2023. The end goal for Jake Paul is to become a ranked fighter by a sanctioning body and eventually challenge and then clinch a world title. He has followed the traditional boxing route which has included knockout victories over Andre August and Ryan Bourland. He has since pivoted back to his big-money events with this fight against Mike Tyson.
Netflix Will Be Looking to Break Records
This event will be Netflix’s first launch into combat sports and its third live sporting event overall for the streaming platform. It will have its eye on breaking the streaming records for a live event and has recently added the highly anticipated rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. This fight will be for Katie Taylor’s undisputed super lightweight championship as the co-main event. These two fighters first met back in 2022, with Katie Taylor being able to get the better of Serrano by a split decision at Madison Square Garden.
