All eyes from both the sports and entertainment worlds were on AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas on Friday night. The highly anticipated bout between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul finally took place in front of a crowd of over 75,000, some of whom were big name celebrities who came out to see the spectacle.
Gronk & Shaq Have “Beef” During Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson Bout
Two of the familiar faces belonged to a couple of retired legends. Shaquille O’Neal received a huge ovation from the crowd in Dallas when his face was shown on the big screens, and he wound up doing an on-camera interview with Netflix just before the start of the main event.
Joining him for the interview was retired NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski. It was a matchup of two of some of the biggest personalities that the sports world has to offer, and the conversation that they had was full of entertainment. And while it was friendly and light, there was an interesting challenge extended by Gronk.
Shaq is the only dude who can make Gronk look smallpic.twitter.com/KnDoc22QSm
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) November 16, 2024
O’Neal began by talking (and presumably, joking) about putting together a fight card of sorts between NBA players and NFL players. Gronkowski questioned O’Neal on whether the potential event would feature retired players or active ones. O’Neal then mentioned that Gronk had challenged him to a fight, despite the two being good friends.
Gronkowski’s response:
I’m not really your good friend. I’m ready to fight your ass. Can we be the first main event? We’ll be the first ones up.
The two eventually settled in to watch the main event, which featured a full eight rounds between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. The younger fighter wound up defeating the fighter that is 31 years his elder, which was a call made by unanimous decision.
Jake Paul is now 10-1 in his boxing career, with the lone loss coming via a split decision against Tommy Fury back in 2023. Tyson’s last professional fight came nearly 20 years ago, which ended in a TKO loss to Kevin McBride in 2005.
