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Ring Announcer Big Mo on Mike Tyson Return Fight: ‘Never Heard a Pop Like That'

"Big Mo" Kody Mommaerts relives his ring announcer duties for Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson and the energy of 70K+ fans.

Christopher De Santiago

Esther Lin/Most Valuable Promotions

Everything's bigger in Texas, and the roar of the crowd couldn't have been louder for Mike Tyson when the former heavyweight champion made his return to the boxing ring last weekend against Jake Paul.

Decades away from his prime, Tyson, 58, is as beloved as ever, and that showed with a reception like no other at the packed AT&T Stadium in Arlington, with more than 70,000 fans cheering for "Iron" Mike - many for the first time.

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Working 'Quite Possibly The Biggest Combat Sports Show, Period'

The man who had the honor of introducing Tyson to the newer-generation was 29-year-old Kody Mommaerts AKA "Big Mo" - a 6'6" ring announcer from Colorado. A former offensive lineman at UNC, Mommaerts has worked countless MMA and boxing shows, with Paul vs. Tyson being a pivotal moment for the young announcer's career.

"That is the biggest show that I've done," Mommaerts told MMA Knockout days after the event. "I mean, to be fair, it's quite possibly the biggest combat sports show ever done, period. But in terms of live crowd it's the biggest I've done, biggest I've done to that point."

"I did the Manchester arena for Liam Smith vs. Chris Eubank Jr. 1 and 2. That sold about 21-22,000 on both of those. So this was definitely a step up population-wise. Definitely a step of viewership-wise. I think the official number came out 108 million live viewers."

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With record exposure for all those involved in Netflix's boxing foray, Mommaerts said nothing really made him nervous during fight week, approaching every show like it's "the big show", with affirmation and visualization key components for the best performance on the mic come fight night.

"I was pretty locked in the whole time. It wasn't a super long card, which was nice on the voice. I think everything came together on that night, at least for me, pretty perfect."

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"I wish people could have experienced it live there," Mommaerts said of last Friday's card. "It was an event, really, more than anything else. Like, we talk about events, we talk about what boxing's trying to do. That was, from an event standpoint, that was it."

Ring Announcer Big Mo on Mike Tyson Return Fight: ‘Never Heard a Pop Like That'
Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Build-Up To Mike Tyson's Intro

Co-main event to Paul vs. Tyson was a highly-anticipated rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano that had the crowd on their feet for an all-out war that was one of women's boxing's finest moments, with 74M viewers watching the title fight on Netflix.

"That's when it started to pick up," Mo said of the Taylor-Serrano rematch. "By the time the main event promo started and the main event buildup started, the energy in there was crazy because you had a mixture of people that were newer generation there for Jake Paul. You had older generation that was there for Mike Tyson. You had casual fans there that were there for Mike Tyson. You had celebrities everywhere..."

"It created an environment for the crowd to feel really comfortable, getting loud, getting energetic. So, when I was introducing and when I was building the main event and I heard the pops for Jake Paul with the boo's and the pops for Mike Tyson, I was like, 'Oh, the place is about to lift off for this...' I think the crescendo of that was Mike Tyson's introduction."

Ring Announcer Big Mo on Mike Tyson Return Fight: ‘Never Heard a Pop Like That'
Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Big Mo Has Never Heard A Crowd Pop Like Tyson's

Not Big Mo's first rodeo as a ring announcer, Mommaerts said out of fighters he has previously seen or introduced, he's never seen someone get quite the reception like Brownsville New York's "Iron" Mike Tyson, a long way from home in "The Lone Star State".

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"I've never heard a pop from a random crowd like that in the sense of like, Mike's not from Dallas, it was a neutral site for both of them," Mommaerts continued. "Neither of them are from Texas, so it was a neutral location. But so many people were there to see Mike Tyson, even just to see him, let alone the fight, but just to be there. That's why the ring walk, that's why the introduction was such a big deal, because people were like, 'Oh, my God, I'm seeing Mike Tyson. This is crazy...'"

"I would say I've never heard a pop like that in boxing," the ring announcer said of Tyson's return to the ring - a "surreal moment" for Mommaerts' career to welcome him 'home'.

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Christopher De Santiago
CHRISTOPHER DE SANTIAGO

Christopher De Santiago is a 22 year-old journalist from Gainesville, Texas with years of experience covering MMA.

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