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Jake Paul defeats Mike Tyson with ease in Netflix spectacle

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 In a display far more spectacle than spectacular, Jake Paul easily trounced 58-year-old Mike Tyson via unanimous decision (80-72, 79-73, 79-73) on Friday night in a bout that paired two celebrities known far more for their personalities than their current athletic abilities.



For 60 seconds, it looked like Tyson might thrill the packed AT&T Stadium crowd in Arlington, Texas, with a performance reminiscent of his heyday in the ’80s and early ’90s. For the next 19 minutes, he looked exactly like a man nearing his 60th birthday who hadn’t fought a professional boxing match in 19 years, landing just 18 total punches.

Paul spent much of the fight dancing around Tyson with his arms arrogantly low, taunting the legendary knockout artist to come close. But Tyson never built up any offense, gradually turning more and more into a statue while Paul pieced him up with fluid combinations and sharp left hooks.

Afterward, Paul said it was an honor to share the ring with Tyson and called the former champion the GOAT.

As for the exhausted Tyson, he said he was “totally happy” with his performance while admitting he went into the fight with an injury, but refused to elaborate.

Netflix’s streaming of the card drew widespread frustration from fans who experienced buffering and freezing issues.

Before the main event, the card featured one of the most exciting women’s boxing matches in recent history in the co-main event between rematching rivals Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. After Taylor won the pair’s first match in April 2022, she won the rematch via controversial unanimous decision, setting up a potentially thrilling trilogy.

Hardly anyone, conversely, will be calling for a rematch of the main event between Paul and Tyson. The louder calls will almost certainly be for Tyson to step away from the ring for good.

The former undisputed heavyweight champion looked like a shell of the boxer who last fought professionally in 2005. And that Tyson was a boxer who quit on his stool before the seventh round against journeyman Kevin McBride.

He opened the door for Friday night’s bout with an exhibition four years ago against Roy Jones Jr., a draw that featured Paul on the undercard early in his boxing foray.

Against the 27-year-old Paul on Friday night, each one of Tyson’s four decades of in-ring damage was evident. The YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul was far quicker in his combinations, far twitchier in his reflexes, and far more fluid, using his three-inch height advantage to keep Tyson out of range.

While it was clear Tyson trained for the bout, evidenced by his flashes of power in the first few rounds, he had little hope of matching Paul’s gas tank.

Just six months ago, Tyson suffered a medical emergency on a flight that left him throwing up blood and eventually losing 26 pounds, he said in the buildup to the fight. While the two-and-a-half-inch ulcer in his stomach didn’t prevent the rescheduled bout from taking place, its effects clearly played a major role Friday.



The bout was fought with 14-ounce gloves — rather than the traditional 10-ounce gloves — throughout eight two-minute rounds, as opposed to the typical 12 three-minute rounds for men’s championship fights. But despite the exhibition-like rule changes, the fight was certainly spirited, with Paul sticking his tongue out to mock Tyson at one point.

At the weigh-ins Thursday, Tyson delivered a stiff slap to Paul after Paul appeared to step on one of his feet. Paul said later the same day: “It’s personal now. He must die.”

With the win, Paul improves to 11-1. Earlier this year, he knocked out Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship star Mike Perry, and he has defeated former UFC stars Nate Diaz, Anderson Silva, Tyron Woodley, and Ben Askren in recent years.

Paul joins a list of Buster Douglas, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Danny Williams, and the aforementioned McBride as the only men to defeat Tyson.

Tyson’s loss will go on his professional record, lowering his career mark to 50-7.

 Netflix’s first attempt at handling a live sports event did not receive a passing grade.

The fight Friday night between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul experienced streaming problems according to many viewers on social media. Many viewers took to Twitter/X and Bluesky to experience their frustrations with streaming and buffering problems before and during the fight.

According to the website Down Detector, nearly 85,000 viewers logged problems with outages or streaming leading up to the fight.

The bout was scheduled for eight two-minute rounds, as opposed to the normal three minutes and 10 or 12 rounds for most pro fights.

Paul won the fight by unanimous decision.

Netflix representatives had no comment via e-mails to The Associated Press on the streaming problems viewers experienced leading up to or during the fight.

The bout between the YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul, and Tyson, 58-year-old former heavyweight champion, from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, was Netflix’s biggest live sports event to date, and an opportunity to make sure it can handle audience demand with the NFL and WWE on the horizon. It streamed globally to Netflix’s 280 million subscribers at no additional cost.

Netflix will broadcast two NFL games on Christmas Day and will begin streaming WWE “Raw” on Jan. 6.



The streaming delays weren’t the only problems Netflix experienced leading up to the fight.

Viewers saw Tyson’s bare butt in only a jockstrap when he walked away at the end of a pre-fight interview in his locker room.

For some reason, Netflix chose to make light of the faux pas.

The boos from a crowd wanting more action were growing again when Jake Paul dropped his gloves before the final bell and bowed toward 58-year-old Mike Tyson.

Paying homage to one of the biggest names in boxing history didn’t do much for the fans that filled the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys on Friday night.

Paul won a unanimous decision over Tyson as the hits didn’t match the hype in a fight between the 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer and the former heavyweight champion in his first sanctioned pro fight in almost 20 years.

All the hate from the pre-fight buildup was gone, replaced by boos from bewildered fans hoping for more action in a fight that drew plenty of questions about its legitimacy long before it happened.

The fight wasn’t close on the judge’s cards, with one giving Paul an 80-72 edge and the other two calling it 79-73.

Tyson came after Paul immediately after the opening bell and landed a couple of quick punches but didn’t try much else the rest of the way.

Even fewer rounds and shorter rounds, along with heavier gloves designed to lessen the power of punches, couldn’t do much to generate action.

Paul was more aggressive after the quick burst from Tyson in the opening seconds, but the punching wasn’t very efficient. There were quite a few wild swings and misses.

Tyson mostly sat back and waited for Paul to come to him, with a few exceptions. It was quite the contrast to the co-main event, another slugfest between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in which Taylor kept her undisputed super lightweight championship with another disputed decision.

It was the first sanctioned fight since 2005 for Tyson, who fought Roy Jones in a much more entertaining exhibition in 2020. Paul started fighting a little more than four years ago.

The fight was originally scheduled for July 20 but had to be postponed when Tyson was treated for a stomach ulcer after falling ill on a flight.



Mike Tyson’s second exit from boxing was even more miserable than his first as he lost to the YouTuber-turned-fighter Jake Paul in a dismal heavyweight contest on Friday.

The eight-round fight, which was streamed live on Netflix, was scored 80-72, 79-73, and 79-73 in favor of Paul, who is 31 years younger than Tyson.

The 58-year-old struggled with his movement throughout and, in the final rounds, Paul appeared hesitant to inflict too much damage on the former undisputed world heavyweight champion. “I was trying to hurt him,” he insisted in the ring afterward.

Distressingly, Tyson appeared to suggest after his defeat that he could be lured back into the sport in the future. He identified Jake’s brother, Logan, as a potential next opponent.

Netflix’s first foray into live combat sports meanwhile endured some rocky moments with several viewers complaining of streaming and buffering problems before and during the fight.

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