Jerry Hosting Mega Event at Cowboys Home: Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul
Jerry Jones can't lure another Super Bowl back to AT&T Stadium, but he remains a marketing marvel capable of landing seemingly everything else.
Fresh off the announcement that the 2026 World Cup will play more games in the Dallas Cowboys home than any other venue, another huge - if not totally legitimate - sporting event is coming to Arlington.
On July 20, former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson will step back into the ring for a "fight" against former YouTube star Jake Paul. The event will be streamed live by Netflix.
When the fight takes place Tyson will be 58; Paul 27.
More polarizing spectacle than authentic sporting event, the fight will garner international attention and likely boffo viewership. It is unclear if the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), which sanctions and regulates combat sports in the state, will classify it as a "professional fight" or "exhibition."
In a year when America will choose a President between 80-something re-runs, why not dig an almost 60-year-old boxer out of the mothballs?
"I’m very much looking forward to stepping into the ring with Jake Paul at the AT&T Stadium," Tyson said of Thursday's announcement. "He's grown significantly as a boxer over the years, so it will be a lot of fun to see what the will and ambition of a ‘kid’ can do with the experience and aptitude of a 'GOAT'.”
Tyson, one of the most feared fighters in the history of boxing during his championship reign 1987-90, has not had a pro fight since 2005.
Paul began raising eyebrows when he knocked out former NBA player Nate Robinson on the undercard of Tyson's exhibition boxing match with Roy Jones Jr. in 2020. He is 9-1 with six knockouts in "fights" against the likes of retired UFC stars Nate Diaz, Anderson Silva and Tyron Woodley.
"It's crazy to think that in my second pro fight I went viral for knocking out Nate Robinson on Mike Tyson's undercard," Paul said in a statement. "Now, less than four years later, I'm stepping up to face Tyson myself to see if I have what it takes to beat one of boxing's most notorious fighters and biggest icons."
The Cowboys hosted Super Bowl XLV in 2011, but won't do it again until - at the earliest - 2028.
