took a page from Rick James' playbook when he slapped on Thursday directly across the face before the fighters could compete against each other one last time after hitting the scales at the weigh-in.
After a rather quiet week for the former heavyweight boxing world champion, during which he refused to really engage in any trash talk, Tyson marched across the stage and immediately slapped Paul. A riot almost broke out when security guards and members of Tyson and Paul's teams rushed onto the stage to separate the fighters.
A visibly heated Tyson took a moment to compose himself and responded with just two words when asked about his actions on Thursday.
“The talking is over,” Tyson said before leaving the stage.
Paul, for his part, definitely looked surprised when Tyson beat him, but he continued to smile before giving a fiery response in his final pre-fight remarks.
“I didn’t even feel it,” Paul said. “He's angry. He's an angry little elf. Mike Tyson, I thought that was a nice slap in the face, buddy, but you're going to get fucking knocked out tomorrow. I'll finish him! He hits like a bitch. It's personal now. He has to die!”
As for the actual weigh-in, the heavyweights were nearly identical: Paul weighed 227.2 pounds while Tyson weighed 228.4 pounds, so it doesn't look like there will be much of a size difference on Friday night.
Paul and Tyson will headline a special boxing event broadcast live on Netflix at AT&T Stadium just outside Dallas. The main event begins at 8:00 p.m. ET.
