Mike Tyson sued in UK for ditching promotion deal to fight Jake Paul

LONDON (Reuters) – Mike Tyson is being sued in a London court for nearly 1.5 million euros ($1.59 million) for allegedly breaking a deal to promote a gambling company in order to fight social media influencer-turned-prizefighter Jake Paul.

Medier, a Cyprus-registered company that promotes online casino and betting company Rabona, is suing the former heavyweight champion and his company Tyrannic for allegedly reneging on the deal, which was agreed in January.

The lawsuit, filed at London’s High Court in October, says Tyson terminated the deal in March – the same day his fight with Paul was announced – because Medier breached their agreement.

Medier’s lawyers, however, argue its actions did not constitute a breach of the deal and that Tyson’s breach of contract has caused Medier losses of around 1.46 million euros.

“The true reason for Mr Tyson and Tyrannic’s hasty and unlawful termination was because Mr Tyson had agreed a deal, sponsored by Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), to fight the influencer Jake Paul,” the company’s lawyer said in documents made public on Friday.

Tyson and Tyrannic have yet to file a defence to the lawsuit and Tyson was not immediately available to comment.

Paul, 27, beat the 58-year-old Tyson by unanimous decision in Texas last month, in a fight streamed live on Netflix that failed to live up to its enormous hype.