In Case You Forgot The Last Time Mike Tyson and Jake Paul Fought On The Same Card

Remember the last time Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fought on the same card?

Let me refresh your memory. It was November 28, 2020, and the entire world was eight months into that whole Covid-19 pandemic thing.

While the majority of civilization remained huddled in homes and apartments, locked down from the outside world, I was seated outside the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, anxiously awaiting the results of my Covid swab. Only one negative test stood between me and a socially distant, front row seat to the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones main event.

For more than an hour, I paced around the LA Live parking lot, waiting for the results. At this rate, it was quite possible that I might miss the first fight of the night, maybe even Jake Paul’s second pro fight. Nate Robinson was going to knock the punkish YouTuber out anyway, right? Robinson, a former NBA slam dunk champion, was at least an actual professional athlete.

Back at the testing area, I passed the time with WBC Chairman Mauricio Sulaiman, who offered up the special custom belt for a quick photo. Under normal circumstances, I’d abstain from hobnobbing with the brass, but this was the pandemic, and we were flying by the seat of our pants, playing by a different set of rules. All bets were off.

Officially declared Covid free, I was escorted into the arena, where the compliance officer went through the same regulations spiel she offered during rehearsal the day before. Masks, face shields, and rubber gloves were distributed, and we quickly went to work.

Producing In a Pandemic

By this time, I had already been in the fight game for nearly a decade. I had produced my own MMA fights in cities across China, and attended some of the biggest fights in history, in a media capacity. But this was no ordinary fight night. This was an empty arena, where the most vicious and feared boxer of my childhood, Mike Tyson, was about to fight one of the most exciting showmen and technicians in history, Roy Jones Jr. It was a mere technicality that both fighters were in their 50s.

Accustomed to entering loud and vibrant arenas full of rabid screaming fans, I walked through the halls of the Staples Center as the production crew did some final technical preparations following the undercard.

Speakers blasted bass in spurts, performing line checks for Snoop Dogg’s performance later in the evening. The vibe backstage might have been full of excitement, if not for the PPE, which kept our expressions contained behind multiple protective layers.

After a few more minutes, we were ready to roll on the Pay Per View portion of the event.

Now, just for a little context, it’s important to highlight some of the key players that night because the Tyson vs. Jones broadcast team featured a killer lineup of combat sports royalty. And, as the Ringside Announcer Producer, my job was specifically to make sure that commentators Mauro Ranallo, Israel Adesanya (who was still the UFC middleweight champion at the time), and “Sugar” Ray Leonard were armed with a dossier of stats and insights, while keeping them on script.

Snoop Dogg was the fourth man in the booth that night. He would not be needing any stats or print materials. Just that sticky icky icky …

Honestly, it was a rather easy gig. One that fell in my lap thanks to a random referral from an executive producer who I’d worked with in Inner Mongolia and Mississippi (which felt more foreign than Inner Mongolia at the time). Mauro tossed all my notes at the top of the show and riffed the entire thing off the cuff. He just needed one specific cue, and otherwise, he just ran on autopilot, carrying the whole broadcast.

Catchphrase after catchphrase, pop culture reference after pop culture reference, Mauro cleverly made room for Adesanya to interject, teeing up Snoop with a slew of 90s rap bits. “Sugar” Ray had a tad more trouble getting his words across, but veteran announcer Jim Gray came in for a segment to help Leonard through the spot, before kicking it back to host Mario Lopez.

A One-Of-A-Kind Spectacle

Because this fight was kind of the first and only of its kind, the crew was singularly focused on producing the show. There was no time to really soak it all in and understand the larger context. While crowds and audiences were barred from most sporting events for the better part of a year, we were able to witness this combat sports spectacle live, up close. Our main responsibility was to deliver a broadcast that looked like a hybrid between a boxing video game and a rap video.

In that regard, the fight was a success.

It was also a smash hit from an entertainment perspective, with Snoop performing a heavily produced mini set before the main event, which ended in a draw.

The actual Tyson vs. Jones fight, technically, was sort of a dud. Neither fighter controlled the pace. Neither fighter did damage or landed in bunches. It was more of a sparring match. Jake Paul’s fight earlier in the night, however, was a violent coming out party for “The Problem Child,” who walked out to Kurtis Blow’s “Basketball.”

Paul made quick work of Nate Robinson, turning the NBA veteran into a meme. He landed the knockout punch midway through the second round.

Fast Forward to Present Day

In the four years that have since passed, the world has mostly returned to normal. Mostly.

Following the bout, Tyson publicly aired grievances with his then promoter, Triller, and has yet to fight since. Paul on the other hand, has fought nine times under his own Most Valuable Promotions banner, raising his profile in the boxing world, where he has sold roughly 2.75-million Pay Per View units. Only Tommy Fury, the younger brother of heavyweight royalty Tyson, has bested “The Problem Child,” who owns victories over notable MMA fighters like Anderson Silva, Nate Diaz, Tyron Woodley, and Ben Askren.

So what does this all have to do with tonight’s fight between Tyson and Paul? Not much honestly. It’s just a random moment and perspective in combat sports history.

However, if you had asked anyone back in 2020 if Jake Paul would ever face Mike Tyson in the ring, they would have told you that you were crazy. If only for the age difference. And if you would mention that Paul would be the favorite, well, folks might just have you committed.

But so much has changed since November 2020, and Jake Paul is not the same 1-0 fighter on the undercard of a Mike Tyson fight. He’s become a main event fighter, in every way. And with this bout against Tyson expected to break betting and streaming records, it’s impossible to ignore that he’s taken over boxing, whether you like it or not.

Dan Shapiro is a writer, editor, musician, and producer currently based in Los Angeles. In addition to covering some of the biggest fights in combat sports history, he’s also hunted down the world’s best sushi, skied the northern hemisphere in July, and chronicled Chinese underground music for publications like CNN, the New York Daily News, VICE, and Time Out. Dan also conjured up a ghost at the Chateau Marmont while out on assignment for RoadTrippers. Follow him on X/Twitter here.