From bizarre monkey crawling to a slap in the face, and a mother’s promise of revenge killing, Jake Paul’s much-hyped boxing match against Mike Tyson hasn’t even started yet, but things are already getting weird.
The chaos started during Thursday’s weigh-in for the fight, which pits Paul, a 27-year-old influencer turned professional boxer, against 58-year-old Tyson, the world’s former undisputed heavyweight champion.
“The Problem Child” and “Iron Mike” have been gamely trash-talking one another in the lead-up to the controversial fight, which will stream live on Netflix on Friday.
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On Thursday, Tyson appeared on the weigh-in stage wearing nothing but white socks and gray briefs. Paul, dressed in white pants and sneakers, crawled out on all fours like a gorilla.
Video posted to social media shows him coming up to Tyson and stepping on his foot. Tyson responded by slapping Paul in the face, prompting the weigh-in official to push them apart and about a dozen very large men to swarm Tyson while Paul baits him.
Asked to respond, Paul addressed Tyson, “I thought that was a cute slap buddy, but tomorrow you’re going to get knocked the f--- out.”
Then he leaned into the microphone and started yelling like a mad man, “I’m f---ing him up, Ariel! I’m f---ing him up! He hits like a b----! It’s personal now! It’s personal now! He must dieeeeeee!”
Once his veins were done popping and his blond Duck Dynasty beard had stopped quivering with (feigned?) rage, he went over and gave his mom, Pam Stepnick, a nice, big hug.
“I’m gonna kill Mike Tyson for you,” she said, arms still wrapped around her son. “F---ing little bitch.”
“You slap harder than him,” Paul assured her.
Fans online are inevitably debating whether the slap was scripted. But even if the whole rivalry was staged, at least we’ll always have this heart-warming mother-son moment.
