ESPN - Nearly 20 years later at the age of 58, Tyson will once again lace up the gloves for a sanctioned bout Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (Netflix, 8 p.m. ET). His opponent is social media star Jake Paul, who has carved an in-ring career out of novelty fights but has gained respect from top-level boxers such as former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and former two-division champion Devin Haney.

Though Paul possessed no boxing background before he turned pro in January 2020, the 27-year-old has developed into a competent boxer, feasting on former UFC fighters with some spectacular KOs. He’s competed 11 times over the past four years and has never been stopped or even knocked down. His only loss was a split decision to Tommy Fury in 2023. Paul is a -250 favorite, per ESPN BET, to defeat Tyson, one of the most recognizable people in the world.

Now, Paul will fight on his biggest stage yet, even if this latest novelty boxing match features him in a headliner against a man 31 years older with a history of health issues.

This event, which was organized by Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions, features two world title fights on the undercard including a rematch between two-division undisputed champion Katie Taylor and seven-division champ Amanda Serrano. It was originally set for July 20 but was postponed in late May after Tyson suffered an ulcer flareup while on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles.

“I had a big ulcer, twoand-a-half inches, and it was bleeding,” Tyson said. “All my friends were calling me like I was dying. I asked the doctor if I was going to die, and she didn’t say ‘No.’ ... You wouldn’t believe what I endured from my ulcer. I lost 26 pounds.”

While the fight is sanctioned by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, there are three major caveats. Tyson and Paul will wear 14-ounce gloves rather than the standard 10-ounce gloves for heavyweight fights; the rounds will be two minutes rather than three minutes; and the fight will be contested over eight rounds rather than 10 or 12.

“It was Tyson’s choice, not that Jake didn’t want to do it as a sanctioned fight,” Nakisa Bidarian, the co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions alongside Paul, told ESPN last week. “We were bringing Mike Tyson back into the sport, and I believe that it was more meaningful as a pro fight.”

Hearn will be ringside to support his champion, Taylor, in the co-main event. However, Hearn told BBC Sport last month he will leave his seat before the main event because he doesn’t want to support a bout with a fighter Tyson’s age.

“The reality is that 20 years ago when Mike Tyson retired from the sport he was shot, completely finished,” said Hearn, who sued Paul for defamation in 2022 after the fighter accused him of bribing a boxing judge. “It was actually sad to watch then, 20 years ago.

For a newer generation of fight fans who never had a chance to experience him in his heyday, Tyson has presented himself as a happy and fun-loving individual. But when the bell rings Friday night at AT&T Stadium, Tyson promises the old “Iron Mike” will be back -- if only for one night.

“I’m bringing the devil himself to the ring,” Tyson said to a small group of reporters during Tuesday’s open workout, just days ahead of his highly anticipated encounter with Paul.

And although he has struck a friendship with Paul, he warns his opponent to not mistake his kindness for weakness.

“There are no feelings attached,” Tyson said. “My own mother should be very careful if she has to get in the ring with me. When it’s over, it’s over. But while the process is going on, my intention is to hurt him. I hope he has the same intentions, or he is in trouble.”

Not only did he promise to knock out his opponent, who is 31 years younger, but Tyson also said that the ferocity he will bring to the ring will make him unrecognizable to his younger children, specifically his 16-year-old daughter, Milan.

“She saw me on television fight with Roy Jones in 2020, but she has never seen anything of this magnitude in her life,” Tyson said. “My kids don’t really think of me as the baddest man on the planet. They look at me as Dad and tell me sit your old ass down.

“But on Nov. 15 they will have a different opinion of me.”

After the Thursday nightr weigh-in, the “devil himself” showed up.

After Tyson weighed in at 233 pounds, he approached Paul for the final stare-down before Friday’s clash at AT&T Stadium. Paul, who weighed a career-high 220 pounds, darted forward from a crawling stance to get up close and personal to the former heavyweight champion.

In response to Paul, 27, entering his personal space, Tyson unleashed an openhanded slap that connected flush on Paul’s face. The two were quickly separated by security as Paul played to the crowd, mocked Tyson and laughed at him.

A source close to Tyson told ESPN that Tyson reacted to Paul “purposefully” stepping on his foot during the stare-down. Tyson was fed up with Paul’s trash talk, according to the source, and stepping on his foot was the tipping point for Tyson.

Thursday’s weigh-in looks to be a highly anticipated match between the two fighters.

The event has been heavily promoted, from social media, where Tyson and Paul both boast 10s of millions of followers, to larger- than-life, 40-foot floats of the fighters at the State Fair of Texas and on TV spots during nationally televised college football games. The promotion is expecting over 60,000 fans in attendance with a gate that exceeds $15 million, which would be the largest U.S. boxing gate in history outside of Las Vegas. Already, Tyson-Paul is 60% above the previous Texas gate record for a boxing/MMA event, which was $9 million for Canelo Alvarez-Billy Joe Saunders in May 2021, also at AT&T Stadium.

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