Late-Night TV Takes Aim at Tyson-Paul Fight: ‘More Like a Disagreement’

Jake Paul may have defeated Mike Tyson over the weekend, but it’s the late-night TV hosts who are claiming the final victory. The fight, which aired live on Netflix, is continuing to provide joke fodder days later, much to the delight of everyone leading a late-night show.

“Was that a fight? It felt more like a disagreement than a fight,” Jimmy Kimmel said during his monologue on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “According to Netflix, more than 60 million households streamed or attempted to stream what is being called the most-watched instance of elder abuse since Joe Biden debated Donald Trump.”

He added, showing footage of Paul screaming into a reporter’s microphone after Tyson slapped him during the weigh-in, “Hard to believe that kid’s going to be president of the United States one day. It’s probable.”

Although the fight didn’t go Tyson’s way, Kimmel noted that “deep down a lot of us were hoping if Tyson knocked this kid out the universe would correct itself somehow. It didn’t. Donald Trump is still president-elect.”

Elsewhere on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the host asked guest Denzel Washington, a boxer himself, about the fight. “Would you consider what happened this weekend to be boxing?” Kimmel asked the Gladiator II actor.

“Mike is one of the all-time greats,” Washington responded. “And I’m glad he got paid.”

On The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert aired a fake Nintendo ad for a game called Jake Paul’s Senior Punch-Out. “The game where you’re Jake Paul beating up old people,” the narrator intoned, listing possible opponents like Joe Biden, Pope Francis, and Judi Dench.

On a special Sunday night episode of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon said, “Forget the boxers. The real champs were the viewers who went the distance. It’s like, ‘Get up! It’s almost on! It’s midnight!'” He added, “Apparently Paul isn’t stopping here. After the fight he challenged the entire cast of 60 Minutes.”

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The much-anticipated boxing match ended with Paul winning after a full eight rounds on Friday night. More than 72,000 were in attendance at the event at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, although most people watched it live on Netflix. Tyson received a purse of $20 million for the match, while Paul was paid $40 million.

Paul had been the one to propose a fight with Tyson, with whom he has a friendly relationship, two years ago, and has said it was Tyson’s idea to make it a pro match rather than an exhibition, meaning the result will be reflected on their career records. In a face-to-face interview days before the Texas fight, Paul declared that it would be “the biggest moment in boxing history when I put this man to sleep,” prompting Tyson to reply, “He dreams a lot. This is not gonna come true, young man.” Asked why he would win against such a foe, Tyson quipped, “Because I’m Mike Tyson.”