Medier sues Mike Tyson £1.2m for breaking ambassador contract ahead of Jake Paul fight

Imago

Ex-heavyweight professional boxer Mike Tyson is being sued €1.5m (£1.2m) for breaking an ambassador contract deal with a gambling operator, Rabona, on the same day he agreed to fight YouTuber-turned-boxer, Jake Paul. The lawsuit was filed at London’s High Court back in October.

The gambling company suing the 58-year-old Tyson is a company called Medier which promotes Cyprus-based online casino, Rabona. Supposedly, despite agreeing to be an ambassador for Rabona and announcing his partnership publicly on 6 February, Tyson broke the contract in March - on the same day his fight with Paul was announced - due to discrepancies on Medier’s side.

Medier’s lawyers stated in public documents: "The true reason for Mr Tyson and Tyrannic's hasty and unlawful termination was because Mr Tyson had agreed a deal, sponsored by Netflix, to fight the influencer Jake Paul." 

Due to Tyson breaking his contract with the operator, they have claimed he - and his company Tyrannic - has caused them financial losses of €1.5m, hence the figure.

The fight with Paul occurred in November, at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and raked in an astounding 65m viewers worldwide. The boxing match was streamed live on subscription platform Netflix and Tyson lost via decision.

Responding in a statement, to The Post, Tyson's team insisted that they were justified in terminating the agreement, stating that Medier were the ones who breached the terms of contract.

“It is the company's position that Medier, Ltd. materially breached the terms of its licence agreement on multiple occasions and in various ways.

“As such, Tyrannic, LLC was well within its legal and contractual rights to terminate the licence agreement for material breach in an effort to mitigate additional reputational harm to the Tyson brand.”

Originally, the partnership between Rabona and Tyson was going to allow fans to engage through monthly livestreams, with Tyson playing Rabona’s online casino games, while sharing exclusive stories from his career. The company also planned to award players Tyson-branded bonuses, however, these plans will now never come to fruition.