Netflix’s highly-anticipated Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight turned out to be a bit of a snoozer.
Paul, 27, won Friday night’s controversial match against Tyson, 58, by unanimous decision.
Stats on screen showed Tyson landed 18 punches during the 8-round fight, while Paul connected 78 blows in the one-sided match.
The former heavyweight champion appeared fit and determined at the beginning of the match, but started to lose steam after the second round against the YouTuber-turned-boxer.
At the post-fight news conference, Paul was asked if he took his “foot off the gas” as Tyson began to slow.
“Yeah, definitely. Definitely a bit. I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt someone that didn’t need to be hurt,” Paul said.
Asked if he felt Tyson’s punching power during the match, Paul replied, “No.”
“I tried to give the best fight I possibly could, but when someone’s just surviving in the ring basically, it’s hard to make it exciting. I couldn’t really get him to engage me,” Paul stated.
Meantime, Tyson posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter) Saturday, saying he still feels like a winner.
“This is one of those situations when you lost but still won. I’m grateful for last night. No regrets to get in ring one last time,” he wrote. “I almost died in June. Had 8 blood transfusions. Lost half my blood and 25lbs in hospital and had to fight to get healthy to fight so I won.”
Tyson added, “To have my children see me stand toe to toe and finish 8 rounds with a talented fighter half my age in front of a packed Dallas Cowboy stadium is an experience that no man has the right to ask for. Thank you.”
Netflix said more than 72,000 fans attended the fight in person at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, to witness Paul take on Tyson; as well as the highly anticipated rematch between MVP’s Amanda “Real Deal” Serrano (47-3-1, 31 KOs) and Ireland’s Katie Taylor (24-1, 6 KOs).
Taylor won, securing her second victory over Serrano.
Some of the celebrities in the audience at AT&T Stadium included Evander Holyfield, Shaquille O’Neal, Sugar Ray Leonard, Jerry Jones, Charlize Theron, Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Josh Duhamel, Joe Jonas, Joe Manganiello, Lennox Lewis, Rob Gronkowski, Mike Epps, Simu Liu, Daddy Yankee, Jeff Ross, and Joey Fatone.
Netflix partnered with Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) to bring the fight to a global streaming audience. MVP was founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian in 2021.
MVP predicted the fight would be the most-watched in history. On Saturday afternoon, Netflix released viewership numbers saying a record 60 million households watched the boxing match.
The fight trended throughout the night on X.
But at times it appeared Netflix’s servers weren’t prepared to go the distance, with social media viewers posting about frequent buffering and freezing problems.
