The most-hyped televised fight of 2024 is happening this fall, or at least that's the plan right now. Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul is hitting Netflix's upcoming lineup on its rescheduled date of November 15th, which isn't far away, but what happens if Tyson has to back out, as it went when he had a medical emergency over the summer? It's a question worth asking, and Paul was able to give a definitive answer on the current contingency plan, in a manner of speaking.
On the heels of Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi facing off in the live Unfinished Beef special, fans with Netflix subscriptions want to know what to expect for the next big showdown on the streamer if one of the fighters cannot perform. Jake Paul spoke to TMZ Sports about the current backup plan, and whether or not he's concerned about Mike Tyson's readiness, saying:
I don't have concern. He's doing great. He's super healthy behind the scenes and feeling great. So, that's what we're focused on, and there's not a backup [plan] currently.
Having zero backup plan for the eventuality of Mike Tyson being unavailable seems risky, though not entirely surprising. When Tyson missed the original fight date, plans were quickly made for Jake Paul to face bare-knuckle brawler Mike Perry.
Despite it happening on the original date, Netflix did not stream that replacement fight, and it didn't take place in AT&T Stadium, the venue reserved for Tyson vs. Paul. Given that, and the fact that there still aren't any backup plans this time around, it would seem like if these two fighters aren't going to trade blows, Netflix still wouldn't be interested in carrying any substitutions.
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Thus far, Mike Tyson hasn't given any reason to suspect he'll be anything less than 100% come fight day. While he was reportedly dealing with complications from an ulcer when the fight was first postponed, he's been pretty active as of late. In addition to uploading pictures from training, Tyson is attending many events, so he's seemingly feeling well enough for this big bout come November.
While his age is a factor, Tyson has asked for certain accommodations made for this match to help compensate for fighting someone thirty years younger than him. The fight will have shorter rounds to encourage both fighters to push the pace, which could prevent Paul from hanging back early and hoping to tire the legend out before starting to fight. Even so, professional boxing matches can be taxing, and we won't know how tired Tyson will or won't be until we see this match.
All we know is that Mike Tyson feels confident he can win and that he was once one of the greatest boxers who ever lived. Whether his past experience will be enough to take on Jake Paul is the big question everyone has and one that some, like actor Russell Crowe, would rather not see answered. In any case, there's no denying that the intrigue is still there to see how this all shakes out and if this fight will happen.
For now, we've marked our calendars for Friday, November 15th, to stream Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul live on Netflix. I'm really hoping we get to see the fight happen and that it's exciting enough that we get to see more big fights happening on the streamer in the future.
