NFL player Rob Gronkowski that he wants to fight NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal as the athletes both turned out to watch the Mike Tyson fight against Jake Paul on November 15.
The announcer interviewed Shaq and Gronkowski together before Tyson and Paul entered the ring. Shaq started the conversation by saying that he wanted to watch Tyson “whoop some (expletive.)”
“I’m just glad that Netflix put this beautiful pay-per-view event together,” O’Neal said, as Gronkowski stood next to him. “Me and Gronk going to put it together NBA versus NFL, boxing, fighting,” O’Neal said. Video of the comments circulated later on X.
When asked whether his plan would involve active or retired players, O’Neal said “either/or.”
“I just thought about it. Me and Gronk are good friends and he just challenged me to a fight,” O’Neal revealed.
“Gronk, can we be the first ones out?” he added. “I love you Gronk.”
“I love you too Shaq,” Gronkowski said. Gronkowski played 11 seasons in the National Football League as a celebrated tight end, according to Pro Football Reference.
“Gronk and Shaq just won and saved this @netflix special 😂😂😂😂,” a fan wrote on X. “shaq vs gronk…i’d buy that,” wrote another person.
Fans Seemed Favorable to the Idea of Shaq Fighting Gronk
Fans responded favorably to the idea of a fight between the two athletes.
“’Those two need to fight.’ – My mom knowing nothing about fighting looking at Gronk and Shaq,” wrote one person.
“Shaq vs Gronk in a boxing match…Who would you bet on to win? 😂” another person wrote on X. “Shaq easily,” a user responded.
“Shaq v Gronk” was all another person wrote.
Some fans noted the size difference between O’Neal and Gronkowski. “It’s actually insane how small Gronk looks next to Shaq,” wrote one fan on X.
Mike Tyson & Jake Paul Were Scheduled to Box Live on Netflix, But the Streaming Service Had Technical Issues Throughout the Night
GettyMike Tyson and Jake Paul are separated as they face off during their ceremonial weigh-in at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory on November 14, 2024.
Tyson and Paul were scheduled to meet for the first time at the much-hyped boxing match that was supposed to be live-streamed on Netflix.
The Netflix bout between Tyson and Paul was marred by repeated streaming problems by Netflix, however. Down Detector reported a series of outages with the streaming service that started around 7 p.m. and continued for hours. There were more than 45,000 reports as of 10 p.m. reported to Down Detector, although they started to taper off at that point.
On X, many users unloaded on the streaming platform, indicating that they couldn’t play the video or it was buffering.
Netflix hyped the boxing match for months, and shared a video showing Tyson slapping Paul at the weigh-in, which increased interest in the match. Paul indicated in a press conference that he might be getting as much as $40 million for the bout, and USA Today reported that Tyson was possibly getting a payday of around $20 million for the fight.
