Mike Tyson, Jake Paul to fight in sanctioned heavyweight bout

WASHINGTON – Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson's July 20 fight against YouTube sensation Jake Paul in Dallas will be a sanctioned heavyweight professional bout, fighters and promoters announced on Monday (Tuesday Manila time).

The fight will be over eight two-minute rounds with the result to count on the record of both Paul and Tyson, who lost his last official bout in 2005.

Tyson, 50-6 with 44 knockouts, has not won a fight since beating Clifford Etienne in 2003.

There had been concerns over sanctioning anything more than an exhibition due to the age difference of the fighters. Paul is 27. Tyson turns 58 on June 30.

"Mike Tyson wanted it to be a pro fight. Netflix wanted it to be a pro fight. So I agreed to make it a pro fight. Winner takes all," Paul posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The bout will be at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys.

"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 an X post.

"Over the past six weeks we have worked with our partners to satisfy the requirements of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations (TDLR) to sanction Paul vs Tyson."

Tyson won his first heavyweight world title in 1986 and became undisputed champion in 1987, nearly 10 years before Paul was born.

After a stunning upset loss to Buster Douglas in Tokyo in 1990, Tyson made a comeback in 1996 to win a world crown before losing the title to Evander Holyfield.

Tyson lost to Britain's Lennox Lewis by eighth-round knockout in Memphis in 2002 in his last world title bout. He beat Etienne in 2003 but lost in comeback bids to Danny Williams in 2004 and Kevin McBride in 2005 at Washington, where he announced his retirement after the fight.

Paul is 9-1 with six wins by knockout, his most recent victory came last month in Puerto Rico where he stopped Ryan Bourland after 2:37 of the first round.

The American's only loss came to Britain's Tommy Fury in an eight-round split decision in February 2023 in Saudi Arabia.