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Key events
As expected, tonight’s card has shattered the record for the largest US boxing gate outside of Las Vegas. The promoters say the live gate for Paul v Tyson has surpassed $17.8 (£14.1), nearly twice the previous state record for a boxing or MMA event of $9m from Canelo Álvarez’s fight with Billy Joe Saunders in 2021.
Organizers said they are expecting more than 70,000 fans for tonight’s fights at AT&T Stadium, the 80,000-home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas. As the Netflix telecast began at 7pm local time, thousands of box-office and resale tickets priced as low as $40 were still available, meaning any walk-up crowd may further raise the gate total.
Donald McRae
It’s still early here and at least two hours before Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor make their ringwalks. They are in the best and most meaningful fight of the night. Like Bryan, I was at Madison Square Garden in April 2022 when they produced one of the great fights in recent memory. The atmosphere in the Garden that night was incredible, as the Puerto Rican and Irish fans whipped up an exhilarating racket that matched the fight itself.
My memory might be playing tricks and perhaps it was pretty quiet two hours before Serrano and Taylor fought in the Garden. But I seem to remember that the joint was jumping with anticipation all through the build-up.
Here in the AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys of course, the mood is a mellow hum. People seem chilled out and the arena is about a quarter full at the moment. But, so far, there is no real sign of any influx of Taylor supporters either from Ireland or across America. There are also no songs or chants from either the Irish or Puerto Rican contingents. I am sure they will arrive in full voice soon, but most people I’ve seen look like they’re here for the circus of Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
But give it another two hours and I think this stunning stadium will be so much noisier and more fevered than it is now …
Time for some boxing. India’s Neeraj Goyat and Brazil’s Whindersson Nunes have made their way to the ring for a six-round middleweight fight following a flashy performance by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders to AC/DC’s Thunderstruck.
Here’s what’s happened so far. Let’s do a little housekeeping before going any further and pass along the results from the non-televised undercard. We’ve had three fights so far before a mostly empty AT&T Stadium crowd:
Bruce ‘Shu Shu’ Carrington, a blue-chip featherweight prospect from Brooklyn signed with Top Rank Promotions, improved to 14 wins in 14 fights with an eight-round unanimous-decision win over late replacement Dana Coolwell. The Brownsville native dropped his opponent two times including in the final round, but Coolwell beat the count and made it to the final bell. Carrington won in a complete shutout with all three ringside judges handing down scores of 80-70.
Lucas Bahdi moved closer to a world title shot after the unbeaten lightweight prospect handed Italy’s Armando Casamonica his first defeat with a disputed majority-decision win in a closer-than-expected 10-rounder. The heavy-handed Canadian was met with stiff resistance by the late replacement Casamonica, who took the fight on 10 days’ notice when Corey Marksman dropped out with a training injury. One judge had it a reasonable 95-95 while the other two handed down risible scores of 96-93 and 98-92 for Bahdi.
Shadasia Green, the former basketball player from Patterson, New Jersey, is a world champion at the second time of asking after winning a razor-thin 10-round split decision over Toronto’s Melinda Watpool for the WBO women’s super middleweight championship. Two of the three judges scored it for the 35-year-old known as the Sweet Terminator, overruling the third who had it 96-94 for Watpool in a fight where there was little to separate the two. Green had falled short in her first title shot last year, dropping a unanimous decision to Franchon Crews Dezurn for the vacant WBC strap.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to AT&T Stadium for a night at the fights unlike any we can immediately remember. Mike Tyson is ending a 7,097-day layoff from professional fighting to face the boxer-influencer Jake Paul in a non-title heavyweight bout scheduled for eight rounds at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
If you’re reading this, it’s unlikely Tyson needs any introduction. In 1986, at 20 years old, the Brooklyn native became the youngest heavyweight champion in history, laying waste to Trevor Berbick inside two rounds to win the World Boxing Council title. After unifying the other major title belts, the nominal Baddest Man on the Planet made six defenses of the undisputed heavyweight championship before losing in a historic upset to James ‘Buster’ Douglas by 10th-round knockout in February 1990. Convicted of rape in 1992 and sentenced to six years in prison, Tyson served three years before being released on parole and was never again the same destructive force, closing his professional ledger with six wins and five defeats with two no-contests.
While Tyson remains one of the most recognizable people in the world nearly two decades after his last official fight, there are few people under the age of 30 who don’t know Paul. After cultivating an enormous public profile on Vine and YouTube alongside elder brother Logan, the Cleveland native has managed to develop into a competent boxer since taking up the sport and turning professional in 2020. He’s had 11 paying fights since then, mostly against former mixed martial arts fighters and journeyman boxers with the odd retired NBA player thrown in. His lone setback came by split decision to Tommy Fury last year, but he’s won four on the trot since then including a July knockout of Mike Perry, a veteran of the MMA and bare-knuckle boxing circuits.
Some have called it a circus. But with two world title fights on the TV undercard, including Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in a hotly anticipated rematch of their 2022 classic, there’s plenty of value on offer for viewers who aren’t keen on watching two men with 31 years between them exchange leather.
The live Netflix broadcast starts in 15 minutes and there will be three preliminary bouts ahead of the main event. The order of play will be as follows:
It’s uncertain when Paul and Tyson will make their entrances for the main event, but it won’t happen before 10pm local time. That’s 11pm on the US east coast and 4am in the UK.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s his explainer with everything you need to know about tonight’s event.
Mike Tyson is returning to professional boxing for the first time in nearly two decades on Friday night in Texas. The 58-year-old former undisputed heavyweight champion is fighting YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a made-for-Netflix showdown expected to draw a global audience of around 300m viewers.
But is that all you really need to know? What about the rules, how much they’re getting paid and the *checks notes* 31-year age difference. Read on for all the answers …
Where and when is the fight?
The seven-fight card is being held at the 80,000-capacity AT&T Stadium, the $1.2bn home of the NFL’s Cowboys in Arlington, about 20 miles west of Dallas. It’s hard to pin down an exact time for the main event, but Paul and Tyson will not make their entrances before 11pm ET (4am GMT).
Where can I watch it?
The broadcast will stream live globally on Netflix starting at 8pm ET (1am GMT) at no additional cost to subscribers. There will be three televised preliminary fights, including Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in a hotly anticipated rematch of their 2022 classic, leading up to the main event. The stream will feature options for live commentary in English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French and German.
The first three undercard bouts not carried by the Netflix stream will be available free on Most Valuable Promotions’ YouTube, Netflix Sports YouTube and Tudum starting at 5.30pm ET (10.30pm GMT).
Who else is fighting?
Hearn isn’t alone in calling it a circus. But with two world title fights on the TV undercard, there’s plenty of value on offer for viewers who aren’t keen on watching two men with more than 30 years between them exchange blows. The order of play is as follows:
The best fight on the card by some distance is Taylor’s rematch with Serrano in defense of all four major title belts at 140lbs. Their first encounter before a sold-out Madison Square Garden two years ago was a contest of extreme physical and psychological intensity that somehow exceeded the breathless hype that preceded it. My heart was pounding so much I had a headache. If Friday night’s second installment matches it for drama, don’t be surprised if they close out the trilogy with a third before 90,000 at Croke Park.
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