Here’s what’s happened so far. Let’s do a little housekeeping before we go ahead and report the results of the non-televised undercard. We’ve had three fights so far in front of a mostly empty AT&T Stadium crowd:

Bruce ‘Shu Shu’ Carringtona blue-chip featherweight prospect from Brooklyn signed to Top Rank Promotions, improved to 14 wins in 14 fights with an eight-round unanimous decision over late substitution Dana Coolwell. The Brownsville native dropped his opponent twice, including in the final round, but Coolwell beat the count and made it to the final bell. Carrington won in a complete shutout, with all three ringside judges giving scores of 80-70.

Lucas Bahdi moved closer to a world title shot after the undefeated lightweight prospect handed Italy’s Armando Casamonica his first defeat with a disputed majority decision victory in a closer-than-expected 10-rounder. The heavy-handed Canadian faced stiff resistance from late replacement Casamonica, who took the fight on 10 days’ notice when Corey Marksman dropped out with a training injury. One judge had a reasonable score of 95-95, while the other two gave Bahdi ridiculous scores of 96-93 and 98-92.

Shadasia Greenthe former basketball player from Patterson, New Jersey, became world champion for the second time after winning a razor-thin 10-round split decision over Toronto Melinda Watpool for the WBO women’s super middleweight championship. Two of the three judges scored the 35-year-old known as the Sweet Terminator, drowning out the third who had it 96-94 for Watpool in a fight where there was little to separate the two. Green had fallen short in her first title shot last year, dropping a unanimous decision to Franchon Crews Dezurn for the vacant WBC title.

Preamble

Bryan will be here soon. In the meantime, here’s his explanation with everything you need to know about tonight’s event.

Mike Tyson returns to professional boxing for the first time in almost twenty years on Friday evening in Texas. The 58-year-old former undisputed heavyweight champion fights YouTuber boxer Jake Paul in a made-for-Netflix showdown expected to attract a global audience of around 300 million viewers.

But is that all you really need to know? What about the rules, how much they get paid and the *checks notes* 31-year age difference. Read on for all the answers…

Where and when is the fight?

The seven-fight card will be held at the 80,000-capacity AT&T Stadium, the $1.2 billion home of the NFL’s Cowboys in Arlington, about 20 miles west of Dallas. It’s difficult to pin down an exact time for the main event, but Paul and Tyson won’t make their entrance before 11:00 PM ET (04:00 GMT).

Where can I watch it?

The broadcast will stream live on Netflix worldwide from 8:00 PM ET (1:00 AM GMT), at no additional cost to subscribers. There will be three televised preliminary fights, including Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano in a highly anticipated rematch of their 2022 classic, ahead of the main event. The stream offers live commentary options in English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French and German.

The first three non-Netflix undercard fights will be available for free on YouTube, Netflix Sports YouTube and Most Valuable Promotions’ Tudum from 5:30 PM ET (10:30 PM GMT).

Who else is fighting?

Hearn isn’t the only one calling it a circus. But with two world title fights on the TV undercard, there’s a lot of value on offer for viewers who aren’t keen on watching two men with more than thirty years between them trade blows. The order of play is as follows:

The best fight on the card by some distance is Taylor’s rematch with Serrano in defense of all four major title belts at 140 pounds. Their first meeting in front of a sold-out Madison Square Garden two years ago was a match of extreme physical and psychological intensity that somehow surpassed the breathless hype that preceded it. My heart was pounding so much I got a headache. If Friday night’s second part matches it for drama, don’t be surprised if they end the trilogy with a third before 90,000 in Croke Park.