ARLINGTON, Texas – A close companion of Mike Tyson revealed that Tyson slapped Jake Paul on Thursday night because Paul accidentally stepped on his foot.

There is a video showing Paul briefly stepping on the front of Tyson’s right foot before quickly withdrawing his foot during the weigh-in for their fight set for Friday at AT&T Stadium. Following this incident, Tyson slapped Paul across the face with his right hand and pointed towards the ground, leading to their separation by officials.

“Jake stepped on Mike’s foot, which led to the reaction,” Tom Patti, a longtime friend of Tyson, shared with YSL News Sports via text. “I witnessed it, and Mike confirmed this to me.”

Patti trained alongside Tyson under Cus D’Amato in Catskill, New York, where they lived together at D’Amato’s residence from 1982 to 1987. Patti has also served on the San Joaquin County (California) Board of Supervisors since 2016, and Tyson noted in 2021 that he was the one who encouraged Patti to enter politics.

Patti was present at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving when the incident at the weigh-in occurred. After both fighters had weighed in, they moved to opposite ends of the stage.

It was there that Paul appeared to crawl towards Tyson, before getting up and mistakenly stepping on Tyson’s right foot with his left foot.

“In my opinion, Jake has shown enough disrespect by crawling towards Mike and then jumping in front of him like some sort of wild animal. Mike needed to establish boundaries,” Patti expressed.

Tyson and Paul have often seemed friendly during joint promotions since their fight was first announced in March. In May, they both dismissed claims that the fight was staged based on their amicable interactions.

However, this week has seen Tyson becoming more withdrawn while Paul has grown increasingly confrontational.

Patti noted that Tyson’s response at the weigh-in indicates he is “done with the media circus. Now it’s time to fight.”