CBS News
How much will Mike Tyson and Jake Paul be paid for their fight, and what prize money will the winner earn?
Jake Paul, a former child star and social media influencer who started boxing professionally in 2020, will slug it out with former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson on Friday in a matchup that will be livestreamed worldwide on Netflix.
Here’s what we know about how much Paul and Tyson are being paid, along with other financial aspects of an event that many consider more spectacle than sport.
How much is Mike Tyson getting paid for the fight?
Regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, 58-year-old Mike Tyson has an estimated net worth of $10 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. That is a modest sum compared with the hundreds of millions of dollars “Iron Mike,” as he is known, accumulated in career earnings, including $400 million in fight purses, according to Forbes. Over the last decade, Tyson has also fought his way back after filing for bankruptcy in 2013 at the age of 37.
Though promotors have not revealed exactly how much Tyson will earn Friday’s fight, reports from online sources, including DraftKings Network, estimate he’ll make around $20 million.
That’s about the same dollar amount Tyson earned in his match against Michael Spinks in 1988, a record purse at the time (worth roughly $53 million today adjusting for inflation). That bout lasted less than two minutes, with Tyson knocking out the previously undefeated Spinks in 91 seconds.
In 1992, Tyson was sent to prison for six years after being convicted of raping a teenage beauty contestant. He was released on parole after three and a half years, returning to boxing in 1995 in a match against Peter McNeely, who was dispatched by technical knockout out in under 90 seconds.
Tyson would go on to earn $30 million for each of his next four matches, which included an infamous 1997 fight against Evander Holyfield in which Tyson bit off a piece of his opponent’s right ear. Tyson was disqualified from the fight, had his boxing license revoked and fined $3 million, but was allowed to keep the purse.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Paul wore a diamond-spiked ear cover, a pointed reference to the incident. But when it comes to making light of the ear biting, Tyson has already beat Paul to the punch, having launched ear-shaped marijuana edibles (with Holyfield’s consent) through his company, Tyson 2.0, a premium cannabis brand he launched in 2021. The brand generated an estimated $150 million in revenue in 2023, according to Forbes Australia.
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
How much is Jake Paul getting paid for the fight?
Jake Paul, 27, is set to earn $40 million, according to an estimate from DraftKings Network and other sources — double what Tyson, is expected to receive for the fight. A simple explanation for that may be that Paul, a top social influencer with 27 million followers on Instagram alone, is also co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, the company promoting the extravaganza in partnership with Netflix. His net worth is estimated at $80 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
With a 10-1 fight record, mostly against mixed martial artists and other pro-boxing newcomers under his belt, Paul, a former child star and YouTube prankster who began his boxing career in 2018, does not lack confidence — or showmanship. His cocky attitude earned him his latest nickname “El Gallo de Dorado” or the Golden Rooster, coined by fans in Puerto Rico. Before that, he was called “The Problem Child,” a fairly self-explanatory moniker based on the online persona he’s crafted for himself over the years.
Paul, who went full Gallo at an open training session this week with Tyson at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas, donning a rooster hat and red-feathered skirt over his boxing trunks, epitomizes social media’s melding of Barnumesque entertainment and sports.
In a TikTok video posted Tuesday, a shirtless Paul, slumped on a couch wearing a prosthetic belly to make himself look out of shape, places stacks of money on his protruding stomach while offering “Mikey, Mikey” an additional $5 million if the former champion can last more than four rounds with him in the ring. If he doesn’t, says Paul in the video, the aging boxer will have to get a tattoo that says “I love Jake Paul.”
“This is why modern boxing is a joke,”commented one user on Reddit in reaction to the video. “People get more excited about freak show fights than actual boxing matches.”
As reported by USA Today, “Tyson and his camp have not publicly responded to the offer.”
How much is the purse for the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight?
The undisclosed purse is estimated by some to be as high as $80 million.
How much do tickets to the Tyson vs. Paul fight cost?
Last-minute tickets can still be found for the Tyson vs. Paul fight, which will take place Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Prices range from $69 for upper mezzanine seats on StubHub to as much as $32,392 for floor seats on Vividseats.
Who do gamblers think will win the fight?
Tyson enters the ring on Friday, nearly 20 years since his last professional fight, as a +160 underdog, according to the latest betting odds from DraftKings. That means a $100 wager on post-retirement Iron Mike will bring in a $160 profit if he wins. At -200, Paul is the favorite to win. Bettors will have to place a $200 wager to make a $100 profit, should the social influencer prevail over Tyson.
“There has been a lot of anticipation for this fight, and we have been pleased with the betting volume,” Johnny Avello, director of sports operations at DraftKings, told CBS MoneyWatch. “We expect more action to come in the hours leading up to the fight.”
Although it remains to be seen how much will be wagered in total, the event is attracting some whale-sized bets of $500,000, according to ESPN.
Gamblers are backing Tyson, according to DraftKings, with 69% of all bets currently on the former undisputed world champion to emerge victorious. “While Tyson is 58-years old now, people see one of the greatest boxers of all time at a favorable price and jump at that opportunity,” Avello said.
“While it won’t match up to an event like the Super Bowl, it could certainly be our most bet boxing match of the year,” he added.
Not everyone will be able to place a bet the epic bout. Though the fight is sanctioned by Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, changes in the rules, including shorter rounds and bigger gloves, disqualifies the fight from being bet on in at least seven U.S. states.
How to watch the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight
For most fans, the best seats will be at home, with Tyson vs. Paul streaming worldwide on Netflix. A basic Netflix subscription is $6. The platform’s broadcast starts at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
As reported by CBS Sports, the fight marks Netflix’s biggest bet to date on live sports. Netflix, which has 282 million subscribers in over 190 countries, has recently tested the waters by airing exhibition events in golf and tennis.
With President-elect Donald Trump vowing to pull the plug on the $7,500 tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles, one EV maker and its billionaire owner are fully behind the idea and even stand to profit from it.
“Take away the subsidies, it will only help Tesla,” Tesla owner Elon Musk posted in July on X, the social media platform he owns.
The credit granted to buyers of EVs helped make the case for buying the climate-friendlier vehicles, and when an earlier version of the tax credit was done away with several years ago, Tesla cut prices on its cars by about half of the credit its buyers were no longer receiving.
Tesla is the sole automaker to be generating a profit on its U.S. sales. Manufacturing EVs is a losing proposition for Big Three vehicle makers like Ford and General Motors, who sell a fraction of EVs compared with Tesla.
Once the EV tax credit is vanquished, the price of EVs overall might drop, cutting into Tesla’s profits, as opposed to increasing the company’s red ink as it could for legacy automakers still working to get a firmer footing in the EV market. Should traditional automakers scale back on their EV production and sales to curtail the losses, EV shoppers would have even fewer options, benefiting Tesla.
As Musk touted his support for axing the EV tax credit, Tesla’s auto industry rivals signaled the opposite.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation urged that the tax credit continue, telling lawmakers in an October letter that U.S. manufacturers count on it as they vie with Chinese EV production. Around the world, vehicle makers have poured billions into transitioning to electric cars.
Further, the Zero Emission Transportation Association on Friday called on Trump to reconsider, saying the tax credit has bolstered employment in states that voted Republican, including Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Georgia.
“If the United States is going to continue to fight to bring those jobs here and actually compete to win against China, there needs to be a demand signal — like the New Clean Vehicle Tax Credit — aligned with that goal, otherwise we would be undercutting those investments and hurting American job growth,” ZETA Executive Director Albert Gore stated on Friday.
“The potential elimination of the federal tax credit for electric vehicles by the Trump administration — without another form of incentive to replace it — could derail the trajectory of EV sales in the United States,” offered Edmunds analysts.
Trump repeatedly vowed to eliminate what he labeled President Joe Biden’s “EV mandate” as he campaigned for the White House.
While there is no such mandate in federal law, the Inflation Reduction Act passed during President Biden’s term revived the credit for many EV purchases, while also granting low interest loans to manufacturers constructing EV and battery plants.
Trump’s transition team intends to knock out the credit as part of a broader tax-reform measure, according to a Thursday report by Reuters, which cited two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The president-elect during his first term attempted to repeal the EV tax credit, which was expanded by President Biden in 2022.
Analysts who track Tesla concurred with Musk’s view that the credit’s demise would only help his company.
“This is a clear negative for the EV industry at first look and would particularly hurt GM, Ford, Stellantis and Rivian,” wrote Wedbush Securities tech analyst Daniel Ives. Conversely, “this will enable Tesla to further fend off competition from Detroit as pricing/scale/scope is an apples-to-oranges when compared to the rest of the auto industry once the EV tax credit disappears.”
Americans looking to buy an electric car should do so sooner rather than later, advised Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ director Insights.
“The federal tax credit combined with slashed prices due to slowed sales momentum has contributed to electric vehicles becoming labeled as some of the best deals on the market in 2024. Now, with production cuts shrinking supply and a fresh wave of demand from those seeking a deal while they still can, it can be all but assured that the price for that EV you’ve been eyeing is going up in the coming months,” Drury stated.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
CBS News
Democratic senators ask Pentagon and DOJ to investigate any Elon Musk contact with Putin and other top Russians
Two top Democratic senators are asking the Pentagon and the Justice Department to investigate billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk’s reported contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials in recent years.
Sen. Jack Reed, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a top member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, wrote a letter to Defense Department Inspector General Robert Storch and Attorney General Merrick Garland Friday, urging them to determine whether Musk’s reported contacts with the Russians should force a review of the federal government’s contracts with his company, SpaceX. Reuters was first to report the request.
The Wall Street Journal reported in October that Musk has been in regular contact with Putin since late 2022, and that Putin asked Musk to activate his Starlink satellite internet program over Taiwan for Chinese President Xi Jinping. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shaheen and Reed expressed concern that giving a security clearance to someone with a reported history of Russian communications could pose a national security risk.
“These relationships between a well-known U.S. adversary and Mr. Musk, a beneficiary of billions of dollars in U.S. government funding, pose serious questions regarding Mr. Musk’s reliability as a government contractor and a clearance holder,” the senators wrote.
The world’s richest man has become a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump in recent months, giving over $130 million to help elect him, campaigning and traveling with him, and weighing in on Cabinet picks. Trump announced earlier this week that he’s tapping Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency.
CBS News also reported Friday that Musk recently met with Iran’s ambassador to the U.N., Amir Saeid Iravani, at the ambassador’s residence in New York, according to two sources familiar with the meeting. The U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with Iran.
The senators also sent a separate letter to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, expressing their concern that the Space Force’s reliance on SpaceX could also affect national security.
and
contributed to this report.
