Despite a sad spectacle against Jake Paul, Mike Tyson might carry on

SAD SPECTACLE: Jake Paul and Mike Tyson before their heavyweight bout at AT&T Stadium. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

The field was full of attendees taking selfies, bartenders dispensing cocktails and glammed up celebrities. It was sight and sound of a party in the front room of the Dallas Cowboys. In the middle the floor an undercard fight was taking place, as a sort of backing track. Nothing suggested a fight crowd until Mike Tyson appeared on the screen.

Pop. The closed roof shook as a stunning majority in the AT&T Stadium 70,000 aired their support for Iron Mike. Even Iron rusts. 27-year-old Jake Paul, a social media star who has recently begun to disrupt the sport, beat the 58-year-old comprehensively on points. They turned out in force to see the legend. The legend is long gone.

He emerged in an all-black outfit and marched to the ring alone. What proceeded was as pedestrian. Paul cruised through the second half of the fight. “I wanted to give the fans a show,” he said afterwards. “But I didn’t want to hurt someone that didn’t need to be hurt.” 

He was speaking a day after he had been slapped by Tyson during the weigh-in as Paul appeared to step on his toe.

“It is personal now. He must die,” Paul said at the time.

Boos rang out throughout their bout. They came together at the end and embraced, head-to-head for the first time all night. According to report, Paul earned €37.95m ($40m) for the card while Tyson took home €18.97m ($20m).

That explains much of what came after. When asked if he was done, Tyson said no and jested that he was ready to face Paul’s brother next. On the Netflix broadcast, former NFL star Rob Gronkowski smiled beside NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal and said they were ready to go. The gold rush is showing no signs of slowing up in Texas.

A host of names were thrown at Paul post-fight including Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Conor McGregor. Most Valuable Promotions co-founder Nakisa Bidarian suggested Canelo Álvarez was a makeable match.

“We believe Canelo would do a cruiserweight fight. There is no way Conor does a cruiserweight fight with Jake Paul.” 

Netflix endured huge streaming issues on Friday, but the numbers are still eye-watering. 60 million households watched the main event live around the world, peaking at 65 million concurrent streams.

Nearly 50 million households globally tuned in live for the co-main event featuring Taylor and Serrano. It will likely prove to be the most watched professional women's sporting event in US history.

So, Paul has millions of reasons to power on. He also promotes Serrano. If they make a trilogy, it means that Katie Taylor will remain part of the circus too.