Video: Mike Tyson slaps Jake Paul leading to near brawl on stage; Paul screams ‘he must die’ now

Photo By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images

Mike Tyson took a page out of Rick James’ playbook on Thursday when he slapped Jake Paul directly across the face before the fighters could square off for a final time after hitting the scale at the weigh-ins.

Following a rather quiet week for the former heavyweight boxing champion where he refused to really engage in any trash talk, Tyson marched across the stage and immediately slapped Paul. A riot nearly erupted as security and members from both Tyson and Paul’s teams rushed the stage to keep the fighters separated.

A clearly heated Tyson took a few moments to compose himself and only offered a two-word response when asked about his actions on Thursday.

“Talking’s over,” Tyson said before leaving the stage.

For his part, Paul definitely looked surprised when Tyson hit him but he kept smiling before offering a fiery response in his final remarks before the fight.

“I didn’t even feel it,” Paul said. “He’s angry. He’s an angry little elf. Mike Tyson, I thought that was a cute slap buddy but tomorrow, you’re getting knocked the f*ck out. I’m f*cking him up! He hits like a bitch. It’s personal now. He must die!.”

As far as the actual weigh-ins, the heavyweights were nearly identical with Paul weighing 227.2 pounds while Tyson was at 228.4 pounds so it doesn’t appear that there’s going to be much of a size difference come Friday night.

Paul and Tyson meet in the headliner of a special boxing event airing live on Netflix from AT&T Stadium just outside Dallas with the main card kicking off at 8 p.m. ET.