Jake Paul and Mike Tyson have made it clear that they are “best friends” despite having fans believe otherwise last year when they faced off in the ring for the first time.
On Monday night (January 20), the two boxers attended President Donald Trump’s Starlight Ball — one of the three inaugural presidential balls typically attended by major donors.
In an Instagram video from the evening, 28-year-old Paul could be seen hoisting his former opponent Tyson, 58, onto his shoulders, while a crowd cheered them on.
“Best friends,” Paul wrote in the caption.
The playful scene showed a very different relationship between the two men, who had previously thrown a number of verbal jabs ahead of their highly anticipated bout last November.
Numerous fans flocked to the post’s comment section to call out Paul and Tyson for faking out fans and making them believe they were enemies.
“They played us for millions,” one person wrote, with a second adding: “We didn’t even pay, but I feel like somehow they still robbed us.”
“Oh that fight was definitely rigged,” a third declared. “Everything was fake,” another agreed.
The controversial fight, which had originally been billed as the “fight of the century,” ended on an anticlimactic note as Paul held off in the final round and bowed to Tyson in the ring. The YouTuber was then declared the winner by a unanimous decision by the judges.
At the post-fight press conference, Paul was asked if he’d taken his foot off the gas in the later rounds, and he said: “Yeah, definitely, definitely a bit. I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt someone who didn’t need to be hurt.”
Paul’s company, Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), later denied claims that the fight had been “rigged.”
MVP released a statement calling those claims “incorrect and baseless,” and saying their “wide circulation” has “undermine[d] the integrity” of the event.
“MVP would like to set the record straight regarding the contractual agreements and the nature of the fight,” the statement read. “Rigging a professional boxing match is a federal crime in the United States of America. Paul vs Tyson was a professional match sanctioned by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations (TDLR).
“Both fighters in good faith performed to the best of their abilities with the goal of winning the fight. There were absolutely no restrictions — contractual or otherwise — around either fighter. Each boxer was able to use his full arsenal to win the fight. Any agreement to the contrary would violate TDLR boxing rules.”
Acknowledging that “trash talk and speculation are common in sports, and athletes and promoters need to tolerate nonsensical commentary, jokes and opinions,” it added: “But suggesting anything other than full effort from these fighters is not only naive but an insult to the work they put into their craft and to the sport itself.”
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