At age 58, we all knew that Mike Tyson had almost no chance of winning against 27-year-old Jake Paul. But there still was a tiny chance that he could turn around the odds and inflict one last beating on a man young enough to be his son. If he achieved this goal, the generational showdown would be a memorable occasion to watch live after all.
Mike Tyson is regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He holds the record as the youngest boxer to ever win a heavyweight title at age 20, and held WBC, WBA and IBF titles simultaneously. Known for his ferocious power, he scored 44 knockouts in 58 wins. In his most famous knockout, he defeated Michael Spinks in just 91 seconds. His last professional victory was 21 years ago, when he defeated Clifford Etienne with a 1st round knockout.
Jake Paul is not in the same league as Mike Tyson, but he has time on his side. Starting as a YouTuber, Paul strategically built a brand around his brash personality, controversial antics and savvy use of social media, turning it into a massive financial success. While critics argue his boxing matches resemble a "freak show" due to an absence of truly elite skills, Paul has nonetheless earned gazillions … and he flaunts it.
“I’m here to make $40 million and knock out a legend.” (Jake Paul)
On Friday evening, at the Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium in Arlington, TX, 72,300 fans shelled out almost $18 million to view the highly promoted fight live, and 60 million households streamed it free on Netflix (that’s 1 out of every 5 Netflix subscribers worldwide, not counting those who joined Netflix to watch the event – a statistic expected later this week). The #PaulTyson hashtag was the #1 trending topic globally on Friday.
“In this attention economy, he (Paul) commands it and he turns it into capital!” (Announcer prior to Paul entering the arena)
Paul and Tyson fought in eight, 2-minute rounds rather than the standard 10-12 rounds at 3-minutes each. They also wore heavier gloves (14 oz.) rather than the usual 10 oz. gloves. The additional weight, made up of extra padding, provided more protection for both fighters.
For his latest bout, Paul did not knock out Tyson, yet he pocketed $40 million for an event described afterwards as a “snoozer”, out-earning the highly credentialed but past-his-prime Tyson, who took home $20 million.
“This is one of those situations when you lost but still (win) … No regrets to get in the ring one last time.” (Mike Tyson)
The streaming platform faced frustrating buffering issues, widespread complaints from fans unable to log in, and an overload of commentary from non-combat sports experts - leaving viewers with a poor first impression.
Hopefully Netflix’s Paul-Tyson learning curve will result in a smoother experience for Christmas Day fans when the streaming platform makes its NFL debut doubleheader on Christmas, with the Chiefs-Steelers and Ravens-Texans on the play card, including Beyonce performing at halftime.
Quick question: would you want to be a traditional broadcaster? There’s no doubt that the writing is on the wall: premium-priced cable TV sports packages and live pay-per-view may soon be a thing of the past. Netflix and live sports coverage is here to stay.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” (Peter Drucker, Author)
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