All the sordid scandals plaguing Netflix's $60M Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight. And why fans hope both get beaten
In the blue corner is a convicted rapist and former world heavyweight champion who bit off part of an opponent's ear and whose high-pitched lisp belies his reputation as 'perhaps the most ferocious fighter to step into a professional ring'.
And in the red corner is a YouTube uber-troll turned celebrity boxer whose obnoxious charge sheet includes allegedly scamming fans, terrorizing neighbors, looting and sexual misconduct.
The main difference between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson seems to be that one goes out of his way to make people loathe him and the other just does it naturally.
While men whose living is pulverizing other people are, by definition, rarely the sweetest guys in the universe, there's something particularly gruesome about the pair set to duke it out Friday night in the Arlington, Texas, stadium of the Dallas Cowboys, in front of an 80,000 strong crowd – and live-streamed on Netflix.
It's a bout hyped-up as 'the fight the world has been waiting for'.
Yet, how much they will be fighting has become the question overshadowing this clash of planet-sized egos.
A 31-year-age gap separates Tyson, 58, and Paul, 27. The former's glory days as the 'baddest man on the planet' are long, long past. It's been almost 20 years since he last fought an officially sanctioned bout, losing to the little-known Irishman Kevin McBride in 2005.
According to many in the boxing world meanwhile, Paul has never actually had any 'glory days', having previously fought carefully chosen opponents including washed-up mixed martial arts fighters and former basketball players rather than serious boxers.
In the blue corner is a convicted rapist and former world heavyweight champion who bit off part of an opponent's ear and whose high-pitched lisp belies his reputation as 'perhaps the most ferocious fighter to step into a professional ring'.
And in the red corner is a YouTube uber-troll turned celebrity boxer whose obnoxious charge sheet includes allegedly scamming fans, terrorizing neighbors, looting and sexual misconduct.
So, while many tempted to watch the fight will be relishing the chance of seeing two particularly unlovable men beat the hell out of each other, whether they'll actually get to see such a spectacle remains unclear.
The fight will be contested over eight two-minute rounds (rather than the standard 12 rounds each lasting three minutes).
And, although no headguards will be worn, the combatants will use 14oz rather than standard 10oz gloves. Not only are they more padded, heavier gloves reduce the power of punches.
True, the bout has been sanctioned by Texas boxing officials as a competitive boxing match rather than an exhibition.
This means it will be scored by three licensed judges, a winner will be declared and the result will count in the fighters' records.
However, boxing purists have been scathing, dismissing it as a 'freak show' which takes the sport, increasingly celebrity-driven, to new levels of absurdity.
There have been suggestions the fight might be choreographed – in other words, fixed. Even Tyson's former trainer, Teddy Atlas, has asked: 'Is it real?'
Some critics complain the bout is grossly unfair.
Boxing promoter Lou DiBella Jr, for example, says it is 'preposterous' that a 58-year-old man with arthritis and a big cannabis habit should be in a pro fight while 'pretending it's a real boxing match'.
He said: 'If this fight was being done 30 years ago, there would have to be a pine box sitting next to the ring for Jake Paul.
'But it's not. Mike's 58-years-old and it's an entertainment spectacle.'
The fighters, however, are doing their level best to talk up what a titanic clash it will be.
Tyson has shared video clips showing him limbering up aggressively in the gym, although skeptics point out that each one is only a few seconds long.
Can he keep up for an entire bout?
The 'purse' that each fighter will receive hasn't officially been announced, but Paul claimed at a press conference in August that he stood to 'make $40 million and knock out a legend'. While according to a close friend of Tyson, the older man will earn at least $20 million.
'What is luring you back in?' asked Fox News host Sean Hannity earlier this year. 'Never for money, only glory,' replied Tyson – unconvincingly.
The main difference between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson seems to be that one goes out of his way to make people loathe him and the other just does it naturally.
A 31-year-age gap separates Tyson, 58, and Paul, 27. The former's glory days as the 'baddest man on the planet' are long, long past.
Sadly, his life and career have been anything but glorious. Raised in the tough Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville, Tyson claims he was taking acid by the time he was 11.
Like Jake Paul, but mercifully before the era of social media, the self-obsessed Tyson was endlessly looking to cause new, attention-seeking outrage.
In the late 1980s, his boxing heyday, he offered a New York zookeeper $10,000 to let him fight a particularly menacing silverback gorilla. According to Tyson, he'd been ready to 'smash that silverback's snotbox' but the zoo worker (luckily for Tyson) declined his bribe.
Tyson's violence against women had freer rein. He served almost three years in prison between 1992 and 1995 for the rape of an 18-year-old beauty queen, Desiree Washington.
'He was mean, evil,' she testified.
In 1992, Erinn Cosby, daughter of Bill, claimed Tyson had sexually assaulted her three years earlier, shortly after his marriage to actress Robin Givens had ended amid allegations of domestic violence.
Givens cited his 'unprovoked rages of violence and destruction'. Cosby never sought to press charges.
Tyson's capacity for thuggery in the ring was horrifyingly illustrated in 1997 when he fought a notorious rematch against Evander Holyfield in which – supposedly angered by his opponent intentionally clashing heads – Tyson bit off and spat out a bloody mouthful of the other man's ear.
He was disqualified for an act that was savage even by his own perverse standards, handed a lifetime ban and a $2 million fine.
Such was the tawdry state of top-level boxing, however, that the ban was lifted just 16 months later.
'I bit him because I wanted to kill him,' Tyson said.
Relentless abuse of drugs and alcohol cast an increasingly long shadow over his boxing career.
Tyson's violence against women had freer rein. He served almost three years in prison between 1992 and 1995 for the rape of an 18-year-old beauty queen, Desiree Washington (pictured).
In 1992, Erinn Cosby (pictured), daughter of Bill, claimed Tyson had sexually assaulted her three years earlier, shortly after his marriage to actress Robin Givens had ended amid allegations of domestic violence.
Robin Givens (pictured) cited his 'unprovoked rages of violence and destruction'. Cosby never sought to press charges.
In his 2013 autobiography, Tyson admitted taking cannabis and cocaine before bludgeoning opponent Lou Savarese to the floor in just eight seconds in 2000.
Savarese later complained it was unfair if his Tyson had been on drugs.
Tyson claimed he had passed mandatory drug tests, including the one before the Savarese world heavyweight fight, by using a so-called Whizzinator, a fake penis – commercially available – that can be filled with liquid.
He sometimes used 'clean' urine from his wife and even his baby to fool the testers.
Tyson played dirty both in and out of the ring.
In 2002, he came up against his former sparring partner, Britain's Lennox Lewis, in a heavyweight title fight in Memphis.
Tyson again opted for intimidation tactics and started a mass brawl at the press conference, during which he bit Lewis on the thigh.
Even after Lewis thrashed him, Tyson was screaming that he was the better fighter. 'I want your heart! I want to eat his children! Praise to Allah,' he shouted after the match.
Tyson is supposedly a reformed man nowadays, though not so reformed that he won't bask in his grim notoriety by selling ear-shaped 'Mike Bites' edible cannabis candy as part of his legal weed business.
Ugly headlines continue to dog him, however, with DUI and drug-possession convictions, crude sexual remarks about politician Sarah Palin and an episode in which he punched a fellow passenger he claimed had thrown water at him on a JetBlue flight.
Last year, an unnamed woman filed a $5 million lawsuit against Tyson, accusing him of raping her in a limousine in the early 1990s. It is thought that his accuser will serve papers shortly after Friday's bout.
Jake Paul's notoriety with a younger generation is not quite so toxic but he's getting there, albeit with a younger generation. Jake and his brother Logan Paul, who is two years older, were the 'big bad wolves' of YouTube and everyone wanted to see them fail, Paul said with some relish in a 2020 interview.
The narcissistic, sniggering siblings – who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and started filming themselves when Jake was 10 – certainly waste no opportunity to offend people.
'Someone needs to take my phone when I'm drunk because I'm a f***ing idiot,' he said in 2020 after getting into a boozed-up row with British One Direction singer Zayn Malik in a Las Vegas hotel.
Some might want to clarify that statement and suggest that he's not just a f***ing idiot when drunk.
Little more than a decade ago, Paul and Logan became stars of the now-defunct video-sharing website Vine with their wacky, stunt and prank-driven humor.
His millions of online followers earned Paul an acting role doing much the same on the Disney Channel drama series, Bizaardvark.
He was fired in 2017 after Paul and his cronies set upon an LA news crew covering accusations by neighbors in West Hollywood that he'd turned their area into a 'war zone' and a 'circus' crammed with moronic fans and a rowdy posse of associates. He was 20 at the time.
His millions of online followers earned Paul an acting role doing much the same on the Disney Channel drama series, Bizaardvark (he is pictured on the show here).
He was fired in 2017 after Paul and his cronies set upon an LA news crew covering accusations by neighbors in West Hollywood that he'd turned their area into a 'war zone' and a 'circus' crammed with moronic fans and a rowdy posse of associates. He was 20 at the time.
'Looking back, I see why everyone was like, "Yo, this kid sucks",' Paul said later. 'Cause I look super immature.'
Not that he's grown up since.
In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Paul infuriated the mayor of Calabasas, his new California home, after throwing an unmasked party for dozens of guests.
He later claimed Covid-19 was a 'hoax'.
That same year, he and friends were accused of taking part in the looting of a shopping mall in Scottsdale, Arizona, during a protest following the police killing of George Floyd.
On June 4, 2020, Paul was charged with criminal trespass and unlawful assembly, both misdemeanor charges, for being in the mall during the riot. Paul's mansion was raided by the FBI but the charges against him were dropped.
In 2021, he was again in trouble, this time over sexual assault allegations when TikTok star Justine Paradise, 24, accused him of forcing her into oral sex. He denied the claims.
A few days later, model and actress Railey Lollie, who had worked for him from the age of 17, accused him of calling her 'jailbait' and groping her.
Paul's various business ventures have repeatedly run into controversy, including allegations that they were scams aimed at exploiting his young fans.
Last year, he paid $400,000 to settle allegations he was plugging cryptocurrencies without revealing he'd been paid to do so.
In 2021, he was again in trouble, this time over sexual assault allegations when TikTok star Justine Paradise, 24, accused him of forcing her into oral sex. He denied the claims.
A few days later, model and actress Railey Lollie, who had worked for him from the age of 17, accused him of calling her 'jailbait' and groping her.
Paul continues to post obnoxious online content to fans, of whom many are children. This includes driving a jeep along a beach used by nesting turtles in Puerto Rico and semi-naked photos of him with his then girlfriend in a vlog he called 'Losing my virginity'.
Paul has been lambasted by various girlfriends, including one - model Alissa Violet - who accused him of mental and emotional abuse.
'Will you please promise me you're gonna kick this man's ass and shut him up,' Fox News's Hannity begged Tyson in the run-up to the fight.
Others will be delighted if both these odious predators meet that grisly fate.
