Mike Tyson slaps Jake Paul at weigh in ahead of fight

Mike Tyson slapped Jake Paul as the rivals faced off for the final time ahead of their fight on Friday.

Tyson, 58, is making his return to the ring almost 20 years since his last professional fight. And he took offence as Paul crawled towards him before springing up as they attempted to complete their staredown.

Tyson slapped Paul in his face as the YouTuber recoiled before insisting he barely felt the blow. "I didn't even feel it, he's angry. He's an angry little elf and he's getting knocked the f*** out. I'm f***ing knocking him out. He hits like a b****. It's personal now; he must die." Tyson, who scaled 228.4lb at Thursday morning's weigh-in while Paul weighed in at 227.2lb, said simply: "It's time".

The results of the weigh-in were kept private until the rivals took part in the public edition later in the day. Tyson weighed 233lb for his last professional bout - a defeat by Kevin McBride in 2000 - but weighed as much as 239lb during his career. Paul has competed in the cruiserweight division until now, meaning he has never weighed more than 200lb, but has been piling on weight since he started preparing to face Tyson.

Paul weighed 200lb when he fought Mike Perry in July after the bare-knuckle boxer stepped in to replace Tyson when he postponed his own fight with Paul. The legendary heavyweight had suffered an inflamed ulcer on a flight and collapsed before coughing up blood, forcing him to push back his ring return to this week.

And of bulking up, Paul said this week: "I’ve just been trying to eat as much as possible. I have noticed that, as soon as I stop stuffing myself in each meal, I will quickly drop to 221lbs, 220lbs, 219lbs, so I have been eating a lot more to try and stay up there [at 224lb]. [An average day for me] is probably around 3800 - 4000 calories but [I've been eating] the usual; eggs, toast, potatoes, steak, chicken, rice, I don’t really like vegetables. Then I’ll have a peanut and jelly [sandwich] at night – that s*** bangs."

Tyson said of what his own training had taught him: "That I'm tougher than I believe I was. When I agreed to this fight, I started training, I said, 'What the f*** am I thinking?' I finished the process, and now the fight's the party. All the hard work is done."