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Mike Tyson slapped Jake Paul across the face during an explosive weigh-in before their highly anticipated fight Friday night.
The professional boxer, 58, and the YouTuber-turned-boxer, 27, were on stage to take their pre-fight weights at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas, on Thursday when things quickly took a violent turn.
While Tyson walked up to the scale, Paul got on his hands and knees and started crawling over to his opponent. The controversial YouTuber — who was wearing shoes at the time — then stepped on Tyson’s bare toes while getting all up in the boxing legend’s face.
Tyson stared at Paul for a brief second before smacking him across the face in front of a shocked crowd.
The weigh-in official and several of Tyson’s team members quickly intervened and pulled the athlete back.
Meanwhile, Paul laughed off the incident by playfully touching his face, clapping, hyping up the crowd and screaming, “Let’s go!”
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Shortly after Tyson made headlines for the slap, the athlete addressed the incident in an interview with The New York Post.
“I was in my socks and he had on shoes,” Tyson explained. “He stepped on my toe because he is a f–king a–hole. I wanted to think it happened by accident. But now I think it may have happened on purpose.”
He added, “I was in a lot of pain. I had to reciprocate.”
Tyson seemed to be over the pre-fight smack talk, however, telling The Post that Paul should know the “talking’s over.”
“He’s more of a clown than an entertainer,” Tyson continued. “He’s a clown. He needs to stop playing.”
The longtime heavyweight champion’s rep reiterated his client’s message, sharing in a statement to The Post, “Jake has been poking the bear the whole time. Mike slapped the s–t out of him.”
Meanwhile, Paul played off the slap by telling media outlets that he “didn’t even feel it.”
“He’s angry, he’s an angry little elf,” Paul said. “Mike Tyson, I thought that was a cute slap buddy, but tomorrow you’re gonna get knocked the f–k out. I’m f–king him up, I’m f–king him up. He hits like a bitch. It’s personal now. It’s personal now. He must die.”
Paul also took to X, writing, “This is a pinch me moment. I got slapped by Mike Tyson 🤗.”
Paul’s brother — fellow YouTuber-turned-boxer Logan Paul — also shared his thoughts about the slap via X and warned Tyson that he made a “grave error.”
“My brother got slapped by Mike Tyson, f–king iconic… but a grave error,” he wrote Thursday. “This fight just became personal for Jake. Tomorrow’s outcome will be utter devastation for Mike; the new face of boxing will be crowned tomorrow @jakepaul.”
The “Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson” headline fight kicks off Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix. The preliminary fight featuring Taylor vs. Serrano will begin at 5:30 p.m. ET.
English (US)