The skyrocketing numbers between Mike Tyson’s defeat to YouTuber Jake Paul on his return to the ring have emerged.
The 58-year-old laced up the gloves one last time in a big money exhibition bout with Paul with the 27-year-old winning unanimously on the judges’ scorecard after eight rounds. Tyson failed to impress on the night as the 58-year-old looked off the pace against Paul at AT&T Stadium in Dallas – with the former Disney star recovering from defeat in his last fight to Love Island star Tommy Fury in front of the Netflix cameras.
Now the streaming platform have revealed that 60 million households worldwide tuned in live to watch the showdown between Tyson and Paul. The viewership peaked at an 65 million at one point during the event.
The seats inside the arena were also packed with 72,300 attendees, setting a new record for a boxing event outside of Las Vegas in the United States. The gate revenue for the Paul vs Tyson also main event exceeded $18million – which broke the previous record set by Canelo Alvarez’s fight against Billy Joe Saunders in 2021.
After the massive commercial success of the controversial fight, Paul appears to be eying his next blockbuster fight with UFC superstar Conor McGregor. He has accused UFC CEO Dana White of holding the Irishman “hostage” and denying the bout.
Posting to X, Paul wrote: “Dana White has a been boxing promoter his whole career. All these nut riders need to do their research. His TV show failed. Couldn’t sell 4K tickets in Dublin with that useless Irish boxer he’s promoting. And he is not fighters first. He’s Dana first. Builds you up and tears you down. Now Conor McGregor is hostage. Free Conor.”