Mike Tyson and Jake Paul traded punches — or more accurately, traded harmless slaps — to make out like bandits in the fight for the ages that broke streaming records, and even broke Netflix.
The real winner might not even be Jake Paul, but a former NFL player who became the hero of the night. Before I explain, let’s take a quick look at what this fight did for Tyson.
The boxing Hall-of-Famer filed for bankruptcy in 2003 after many of his business associates helped dwindle his career earnings, which totaled over $400 million. The result was that the former undisputed heavyweight champion had a net worth of $10 million before this fight.
Tyson, whose biggest purse of his career was $20 million when he faced and thoroughly defeated Michael Spinks in 1988, has at least matched that sum with the recent Jake Paul fight despite having been retired for 19 years.
The payday for Iron Mike can mostly be attributed to two things. One of them is his mystique. Tyson was a knockout machine, utterly destroying opponents for over two decades. In his 50 victories, Tyson knocked out 44 victims. That made a lot of people genuinely believe that even at 58 years old he can still deliver a knockout blow.
Combine that belief with Jake Paul’s impeccable ability to promote a fight involving himself. He knows fans want to see him knocked out, thus a fight with Tyson is the perfect scenario because people will pay to see Jake Paul KO’d, even though most people didn’t because a majority of viewers were already subscribed to Netflix.
Jake Paul thus took advantage of being the villain and took on someone 30 years his senior —who is much safer to fight then a fairly accomplished fighter in his prime — and it has to be the easiest $40 million that Jake Paul will ever make.
Yes, Jake Paul will walk away with an estimated $40 million and Tyson $20 million.
Many believe that the biggest loser of the night is Netflix, whose issues with live streaming their first ever major sporting event included many users being stuck all night on buffering screens, resulting in what one can only assume is a record number of complaints on social media for any live event.
It even resulted in former Pittsburgh Steeler receiver extraordinaire Antonio Brown — who was in a suite at AT&T Stadium — live-streaming the fight from his phone on X. Over 7 million people watched Brown’s livestream. Despite some believing that Netflix might sue him, Brown was the savior for millions who couldn’t watch the fight live because of the ongoing issues and he proved to be significantly more reliable than Netflix
However, the real loser of the night were the fans. They got suckered in, tried watching a fight that was unwatchable for multiple reasons, and helped make Jake Paul much richer.
The biggest winner? It’s difficult not to say it’s Mike Tyson. He gets a big payday that helps him recover from a somewhat financially challenging retirement, doesn’t get seriously hurt in the ring, doesn’t ruin his in-ring reputation, and can now live comfortably which he more than deserves. Even one user on X noted that he doesn’t even care if the fight was rigged because he’s happy to see Tyson with a big paycheck.
Netflix is set to stream another live sporting event on Christmas Day in Pittsburgh when the NFL features the Steelers against the Chiefs. Antonio Brown already stated he’ll be there and, if Netflix fails us all, he will save us again.
Published: Nov 19, 2024 05:47 pm