🥊 Jake Paul v Tyson: biggest U.S. gate outside Nevada, $18M+

Forbes put a number on Jake Paul's boxing run: $38 million, the pre-tax earnings that made him the world's 46th-highest-paid athlete in 2022. Several opponents later came the record that is harder to argue with - the biggest U.S. boxing gate outside Nevada, the night he beat Mike Tyson in front of 72,300 people. Mr Scandal pulled the receipts so you don't have to.

The Forbes number

Forbes landed on Paul twice in 2022. In January, it put his 2021 boxing earnings at $40 million across three victories - $45 million once his other income was counted - and ranked him the No. 2 highest-paid YouTube star. In May, measuring his earnings over the prior 12 months, it ranked him the world's 46th-highest-paid athlete on $38 million, roughly $30 million of it from two fights.

Forbes came back to Paul in its June 2025 list of the highest-paid creators, where it credited the Tyson fight with bringing him 'a hefty payday' - without attaching a public figure to the year.

The Tyson fight

On November 15, 2024, Paul beat Mike Tyson by unanimous decision at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in front of 72,300 fans. Netflix's stream peaked at 65 million concurrent viewers, which The Guardian called the most-streamed sporting event ever. The gate topped $18 million, the biggest in U.S. boxing history outside Nevada, the promoter told CNBC.

Purses were reported, not confirmed. Paul's expected take was put at about $40 million and Tyson's at about $20 million, figures CBS News attributed to DraftKings Network and other online sources. The promoters did not reveal the payouts, though MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian told CNBC both men would make eight figures.

"This is a statement that we had the biggest live gate outside of Vegas in U.S. boxing history."

Jake Paul, at a pre-fight press conference, quoted by CNBC

Anti Fund

Paul co-founded Anti Fund with serial entrepreneur Geoffrey Woo in 2021, structured as a rolling fund on AngelList that Paul told TechCrunch would invest 'around $10 million to $20 million a year.' By May 2022, Forbes described it as a $15 million fund - with stakes in Alchemy, Blocktopia and Elon Musk's Synthesis - and reported a second fund 'close to $50 million' in the pipeline.

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn told Forbes that Paul is 'not terrible, but he's not very good.' Forbes, in the same piece, called him the 46th-highest-paid athlete in the world. In this business both lines can be true, and only the second one clears the bank.