Ariel Helwani has detailed what happened after a "disrespected" Mike Tyson slapped Jake Paul during their final face-off on Thursday – and it makes for fascinating reading ahead of fight night.
In the build-up to this evening's bout between Paul and Tyson, which will be available to stream live on Netflix, the pair have maintained a relatively cordial relationship.
For example, after the YouTube personality beat Nate Robinson on the undercard of Tyson vs Jones Jr in 2020, the former heavyweight champion was full or praise for Paul.
"He's a big star, everybody knows who he is. I'm so happy he joined on the bandwagon with me and Roy," Tyson said.
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"My ego says so many things but the reality is they help boxing so much. They owe these YouTube boxers some kind of respect. Boxing was pretty much a dying sport, UFC was kicking our butts."
Ahead of the much-anticipated bout in Texas, Tyson has been calm and collected amid a flurry of trash talk from his opponent but on Thursday night, he snapped after Paul stepped on his foot during the final staredown.
Ariel Helwani, who was hosting the event, tried his best to get an explanation from Tyson but the former heavyweight champion was livid. In fact, Helwani gave an insight into Tyson's reaction to the slap incident on his YouTube channel The Ariel Helwani Show.
He began: "They wanted me to talk to Jake first and I said, 'Forget that. I need to talk to Tyson first. He's the story here.' He was being surrounded by security and they were all locking hands essentially, surrounding him so nothing else happens. At this point, he's like a caged animal – like a tiger in a cage.
"I tried sticking my hand in there with the microphone. And I'll just be straight up. I have never seen that look on a fighter's face before. I have never seen that look on a human being's face before. I thought he was going to eat my head. Literally, bite off my head and swallow it; not even chew.
"He said, 'Time for talking is over'. I asked why did you push him. And he just walked off. That was it."
Helwani went on to explain why this is a different Tyson to the one we saw against Roy Jones Jr in 2020.
"That's not the Mike Tyson we saw against Roy Jones. That guy was respectful. He was coming back from all these years and at that point, it was 15 or 16 years since the Kevin McBride fight. This is a different guy," Helwani added.
"He feels disrespected. And he doesn't just feel disrespected by Jake but by the public, who are talking about his age and physique. They are talking like he's some kind of victim being led to slaughter. This is Mike freaking Tyson.
'I get it. I've said it a million times. I'm as conflicted as all of you. I don't know. My initial reaction was, 'what how is this happening? how will this get sanctioned?' Now, I'm just kinda blown away."
Helwani also took to X, formerly Twitter, after the weigh-ins. He wrote: "Holy s**. I can confidently say I’ve never seen that look on a fighter’s face before."
Tyson later explained why he "had to reciprocate" and slap Jake Paul across the face as the pair went face-to-face.
"I was in my socks and he had on shoes. He stepped on my toe because he’s a f****** a******," Tyson said. "I wanted to think it happened by accident. But now I think it may have happened on purpose. I was in a lot of pain, I had to reciprocate."
Topics: Mike Tyson, Ariel Helwani, Jake Paul, Boxing, Boxing News
Jack Kenmare