Netflix chief Brandon Riegg accepts the streaming platform’s huge fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul is ‘not for everyone’.
Boxing legend and sporting icon Tyson returns to the ring at Dallas’ AT&T Stadium on Friday night to fight YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul.
While the general level of interest in the bout is huge – Paul recently predicted 25 million people would watch his toughest fight to date – some within the boxing community have said they have no interest.
Tyson was one of the best and most famous athletes in the world during the 1990s but has not fought professionally since 2004.
While he is regarded as an all-time great in the world of sports, his career was also marred by controversy.
In the early 1990s he served three years of a six-year sentence after being convicted of rape. Inside the ring he was infamously disqualified from a fight for biting an opponent.
Some pundits have also expressed concern for Tyson, who is 58 and suffered a medical issue earlier this year which forced the fight to be postponed.
The risks have been minimised by the fact both fighters will wear slightly heavier gloves, reducing the impact of punches, and rounds will be two minutes as opposed to three.
Tyson is also fighting a relative notice of the sport, with divisive content creator Paul boasting a record of 10 wins and one defeat from 11 bouts ahead of the clash in Texas.
Asked about some of the criticism the fight has received, Vice President of Nonfiction at Netflix Riegg told Metro and other publications: ‘In the era of social media there’s always going to be people on either side of the aisle.
‘Look, it’s your choice. At Netflix we have a lot of things, not everything we have appeals to everybody. You can decide on your own terms, you can watch it or not, that’s all fine and good.
‘I do find it a bit curious that some people are finding the time to say they’re not going to watch it. I kinda think they are if they’re publicly saying that.
‘But it’s fine, we’re not going to get everybody, it’s not for everyone, that’s to be expected. We’re trying to pull off a great night and create a fun and enjoyable experience for everybody who watches it.’
Some fight fans have also criticised the card for putting Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul above a huge women’s title fight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.
Taylor and Serrano sold out Madison Square Garden and pocketed at least £1m each when they first fought back in 2022, with Ireland’s Taylor edging the win on points.
‘We haven’t heard much of that actually,’ Riegg said when asked about those criticising the pecking order of the card, though it should be noted that Taylor vs Serrano has always been billed as the co-main event rather than an undercard fight.
‘I’ve been hearing the opposite with many people saying this is one of the bouts of the century. So the opportunity for the women to get more visibility – I would argue there’s not been a bigger platform for them.
‘This is not behind a pay-per-view wall, it’s on Netflix, we’re billing it as the co-main event. Both women have said this is great for women’s boxing, no matter the outcome.
‘I look at it as a real positive. I see it as equal to the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight. Obviously this whole thing came about when Mike and Jake agreed to it and we’ve built it from there but the women are right there, it’s on equal standing in my mind.’
Discussing how the Tyson vs Paul fight even came about, Riegg – who joined Netflix in late 2016 – added: ‘It was a little over a year ago when we had a a documentary with Jake Paul [Untold: Jake Paul the Problem Child].
‘It did really well and he, like many of our talent, saw the benefit and the power of our reach and distribution. He was impressed and his team came to us and asked about the live capability and about doing his next fight live on Netflix.
‘We thought it was a really interesting proposition. We had thought about it before in theory so we asked him who he would fight.
‘They were talking about names – like KSI, Tommy Fury – we were trying to find the right name and then quite casually they mentioned they had spoken to Mike Tyson previously about it.
‘At that point our head of sports and I sit up. You almost can’t unhear it once you hear that. It checked so many boxes, it’s a name that transcends sports and boxing, it’s an icon of the sport.’
And just how many people do Netflix expect to tune in on fight night? The answer’s more complicated than you might think.
‘I’m trying not to get too attached to the numbers because, speaking candidly, we don’t really know,’ said Riegg. ‘It’s new territory for all of us and the number ranges have been very extreme so it’s hard to tell.
‘Truly, given this is our first attempt, my hope is we produce an excellent night of sport and boxing and it goes smoothly.
‘This is a big swing for us. How many people are going to watch it and is it going to justify the economics? We’re feeling it out so we want a healthy number but it’s not going to be the be all and end all.’
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