Jake Paul, a former child star and social media influencer who started boxing professionally in 2020, will slug it out with former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson on Friday in a matchup that will be livestreamed worldwide on Netflix.
Here’s what we know about how much Paul and Tyson are being paid, along with other financial aspects of an event that many consider more spectacle than sport.
Regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, 58-year-old Mike Tyson has an estimated net worth of $10 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. That is a modest sum compared with the hundreds of millions of dollars “Iron Mike,” as he is known, accumulated in career earnings, including $400 million in fight purses, according to Forbes. Over the last decade, Tyson has also fought his way back after filing for bankruptcy in 2013 at the age of 37.
Though promotors have not revealed exactly how much Tyson will earn Friday’s fight, reports from online sources, including DraftKings Network, estimate he’ll make around $20 million.
That’s about the same dollar amount Tyson earned in his match against Michael Spinks in 1988, a record purse at the time (worth roughly $53 million today adjusting for inflation). That bout lasted less than two minutes, with Tyson knocking out the previously undefeated Spinks in 91 seconds.
In 1992, Tyson was sent to prison for six years after being convicted of raping a teenage beauty contestant. He was released on parole after three and a half years, returning to boxing in 1995 in a match against Peter McNeely, who was dispatched by technical knockout out in under 90 seconds.
Tyson would go on to earn $30 million for each of his next four matches, which included an infamous 1997 fight against Evander Holyfield in which Tyson bit off a piece of his opponent’s right ear. Tyson was disqualified from the fight, had his boxing license revoked and fined $3 million, but was allowed to keep the purse.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Paul wore a diamond-spiked ear cover, a pointed reference to the incident. But when it comes to making light of the ear biting, Tyson has already beat Paul to the punch, having launched ear-shaped marijuana edibles (with Holyfield’s consent) through his company, Tyson 2.0, a premium cannabis brand he launched in 2021. The brand generated an estimated $150 million in revenue in 2023, according to Forbes Australia.
Jake Paul, 27, is set to earn $40 million, according to an estimate from DraftKings Network and other sources — double what Tyson, is expected to receive for the fight. A simple explanation for that may be that Paul, a top social influencer with 27 million followers on Instagram alone, is also co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, the company promoting the extravaganza in partnership with Netflix. His net worth is estimated at $80 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
With a 10-1 fight record, mostly against mixed martial artists and other pro-boxing newcomers under his belt, Paul, a former child star and YouTube prankster who began his boxing career in 2018, does not lack confidence — or showmanship. His cocky attitude earned him his latest nickname “El Gallo de Dorado” or the Golden Rooster, coined by fans in Puerto Rico. Before that, he was called “The Problem Child,” a fairly self-explanatory moniker based on the online persona he’s crafted for himself over the years.
Paul, who went full Gallo at an open training session this week with Tyson at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas, donning a rooster hat and red-feathered skirt over his boxing trunks, epitomizes social media’s melding of Barnumesque entertainment and sports.
In a TikTok video posted Tuesday, a shirtless Paul, slumped on a couch wearing a prosthetic belly to make himself look out of shape, places stacks of money on his protruding stomach while offering “Mikey, Mikey” an additional $5 million if the former champion can last more than four rounds with him in the ring. If he doesn’t, says Paul in the video, the aging boxer will have to get a tattoo that says “I love Jake Paul.”
“This is why modern boxing is a joke,”commented one user on Reddit in reaction to the video. “People get more excited about freak show fights than actual boxing matches.”
As reported by USA Today, “Tyson and his camp have not publicly responded to the offer.”
The undisclosed purse is estimated by some to be as high as $80 million.
Last-minute tickets can still be found for the Tyson vs. Paul fight, which will take place Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Prices range from $69 for upper mezzanine seats on StubHub to as much as $32,392 for floor seats on Vividseats.
Tyson enters the ring on Friday, nearly 20 years since his last professional fight, as a +160 underdog, according to the latest betting odds from DraftKings. That means a $100 wager on post-retirement Iron Mike will bring in a $160 profit if he wins. At -200, Paul is the favorite to win. Bettors will have to place a $200 wager to make a $100 profit, should the social influencer prevail over Tyson.
“There has been a lot of anticipation for this fight, and we have been pleased with the betting volume,” Johnny Avello, director of sports operations at DraftKings, told CBS MoneyWatch. “We expect more action to come in the hours leading up to the fight.”
Although it remains to be seen how much will be wagered in total, the event is attracting some whale-sized bets of $500,000, according to ESPN.
Gamblers are backing Tyson, according to DraftKings, with 69% of all bets currently on the former undisputed world champion to emerge victorious. “While Tyson is 58-years old now, people see one of the greatest boxers of all time at a favorable price and jump at that opportunity,” Avello said.
“While it won’t match up to an event like the Super Bowl, it could certainly be our most bet boxing match of the year,” he added.
Not everyone will be able to place a bet the epic bout. Though the fight is sanctioned by Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, changes in the rules, including shorter rounds and bigger gloves, disqualifies the fight from being bet on in at least seven U.S. states.
For most fans, the best seats will be at home, with Tyson vs. Paul streaming worldwide on Netflix. A basic Netflix subscription is $6. The platform’s broadcast starts at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
As reported by CBS Sports, the fight marks Netflix’s biggest bet to date on live sports. Netflix, which has 282 million subscribers in over 190 countries, has recently tested the waters by airing exhibition events in golf and tennis.
