Iron Mike did not end up seeing much of the money he was paid after appearing at WWE’s showcase event.
Mike Tyson was once due to recieve £2.5m for appearing at a WWE event, he ended up seeing almost none of that fee.
Jake Paul will face Tyson, who is 30 years his senior, in July at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in what may be Iron Mike’s first professional fight since 2005.
Tyson is a legendary figure in the sport, having 50 wins from 58 fights under his belt, two no contests and only six losses in a career which spanned two decades.
Paul meanwhile is in the infancy of his professional boxing career, with nine wins in 10 fights so far and only one defeat, which came at the hands of Tommy Fury last year.
The fight, which will be streamed exclusively on Netflix, may see Tyson involved in a first professional bout in almost 20 years. He previously fought Kevin McBridge in 2005, but was stopped in two rounds before hanging up the gloves.
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Tyson’s passion is boxing, but has another in the form of wrestling, and he was able to combine those when appearing at a then WWF event – now WWE – in the 90s.
Tyson appeared at the showcase event of WrestleMania 14 in 1998, as the special enforcer during a fight between Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
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Remarkably for making an appearance at the Showcase of the Immortals, Iron Mike was paid $3m, which works out at around £2.5m.
Speaking to GQ back in 2019, Tyson confirmed his payday at the event in Boston, which saw Austin beat Michaels for the WWE Championship.
But he revealed that despite receiving a big fee for his appearance, he did not end up being able to use much of it owing to having to pay off bills that he had accrued.
He said: “I was broke at WrestleMania and needed some money, I think that was the big thing, that we made a lot of money.
“We took a lot of money to pay bills, so we didn’t really see much of it.”
