Jake Paul’s fight against the former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson had 60 million viewers worldwide for their eight-rounder on Netflix last Friday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
72,300 fans were in attendance to watch the event, but there wasn’t much cheering after the first round. That’s when the fight became hopelessly one-sided, with the 27-year-old Jake beating up on the 58-year-old Tyson, who looked like he didn’t belong in the ring.
If Netflix continues to show boxing events, it needs to focus on ensuring that the fights are quality and not circus acts that will leave fans angry and regretting that they subscribed. Moreover, they went to fix the video because many fans complained about the video freezing or having a lull.
Fans Disappointed At Poor Product
That’s a huge number for what turned out to be such an utterly pathetic fight. It lacked any semblance of being competitive or entertaining for the subscribers who tuned in. It wasn’t competitive like the naive fans had thought it would be.
Paul had to know that by choosing such an older fighter like Tyson to help build his brand, he was giving fans a crappy product.
The fans were fooled into thinking Tyson had a chance by the short video workout clips of him throwing combinations, looking fast and powerful. The clips were short, and there was no one throwing punches back at him to see how he’d react.
The co-feature fight between Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano was watched by 50 million viewers. That was the match that was marred by numerous accidental head clashes and a horrendous cut Serrano suffered.
In the immediate aftermath of the fight, there was a tremendous backlash toward Jake from fans, who were disgusted by him fighting the legend Mike Tyson to get cheap publicity and make much off of such a fight.
De La Hoya Disgusted Watching Paul-Tyson
“While watching it, I felt disgusted at Jake Paul for putting this together, knowing that Tyson was 58 years old,” said Oscar De La Hoya to iFL TV about the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight last Friday night.
“When you’re going to fight a 28-year-old like Jake Paul against Tyson, who is a legend. He’s a national treasure. I felt a little disgusted, but not at Tyson. I felt bad for Tyson, but I’m proud of him. Jake Paul, if you want to fight Zurdo right now, let’s do it, and he will knock you out.