Like it or loathe it, Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul will be one of the biggest boxing fights in history.
It’s a wild west of a fight – a former undisputed heavyweight champion against a former Disney star-turned YouTuber – so it’s appropriate that it is being staged at the home of the Cowboys.
Tens of thousands of spectators are due to descend on the 80,000-seater AT&T Stadium, which usually hosts the NFL side.
The impressive structure, which cost $1.3 billion to build, is described as ‘the largest, most technologically advanced entertainment venue in the world’.
There are also more than 3,000 screens scattered around the ground while it comes complete with a huge retractable end zone, 300 luxury suites and a massive Miller Lite House that has a 70-yard field plus more than 87,000 square feet of outdoor space for game day entertainment.
The AT&T Stadium is one of the grounds that will be used for the 2026 World Cup, which will host a different kind of football.
And it lives up to the billing, boasting the world’s largest HDTV, measuring 160 feet wide and 72 feet tall.
Paul vs Tyson will undoubtedly be the biggest boxing event to have taken place at the venue but it is no stranger to laying host to blockbuster fights.
The biggest of them all came in 2021 when Canelo Alvarez locked horns with Billy Joe Saunders in a WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight unification clash.
There was plenty of bad blood in the build-up, with both men engaging in a dispute over the size of the ring while their entourages wound up in a heated altercation at the fighters’ hotel during fight week.
When they eventually came face to face in the ring, the fight was close and competitive for the first seven rounds.
Canelo had gotten off to a better start while Saunders was beginning to gain a foothold in the middle rounds.
Pre-fight entertainment can be enjoyed at the huge 87,000-square-foot Miller Lite House[/caption]
But Saunders’ momentum came to an abrupt halt when Canelo shattered his eye socket in the eighth stanza with a massive right uppercut, which left him unable to come out for the ninth round.
It was a particularly satisfying win for the Mexican superstar, who didn’t hesitate before branding the brash Brit his ‘most hated opponent’.
“Some fighters talk to sell a fight, but I think he’s a bad person, and I really enjoyed beating that guy.”
WrestleMania 32 took place there, while pop stars Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Ed Sheeran have performed there.
And other big fights to have taken place there include Errol Spence Jr‘s welterweight title fights with Mikey Garcia, Danny Garcia and Yordenis Ugar, Manny Pacquiao vs Antonio Margarito and Canelo vs Liam Smith, which ended when the Mexican delivered a punishing body shot to his Brit rival.
But none of them sold as many tickets as Canelo-Saunders, which broke the record for the highest attendance for an indoor boxing event held in the United States (73,126 fans).
For Tyson, this marks his first professional bout since 2005 when he quit on his stool at the end of the sixth round after being battered from pillar to post by Kevin McBride.
In a candid post-fight interview the boxing icon admitted he had ‘lost his fighting guts’.
However, he claims to have found them again at 58 years old and is now set to fight a man 31 years his junior in a professional heavyweight clash.
For 27-year-old Paul, it will be his 12th fight. In his second bout, against former NBA player Nate Robinson, he actually featured on the undercard of Tyson’s exhibition with Roy Jones Jr in 2020.
It ended in a controversial draw, but is said to have made close to $100m in revenue, while there were a reported 1.6 million PPV buys.
Tyson vs Paul, a Most Valuable Promotions showdown, will be broadcast live on Netflix, with millions expected to tune in from home.
