Well, you wouldn’t want to be the person who paid $2m for a ticket, would you?
Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson was slammed as a farce from start to finish and raging boxing fans who stayed up to watch it on the promise of a knockout have been left feeling ‘robbed’ by the moneyspinning Netflix bout. It was a professional fight in name only as the YouTuber and retired veteran served up a spectacularly poor standard, Paul winning on points after nary a serious punch was landed at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas.
Furious fans, many of whom had shelled out thousands for ringside seats, were seen walking out in disgust long before the winner was announced. And those watching at home didn’t have a better experience as Netflix‘s stream crashed before, after and during the fight – some joking that was a blessing rather than a curse given the quality on show.
There was one moment in the first round, singled out by 5 Star Preps on X, in which Tyson had an opening to go in for the kill. But the 58-year-old instead stood back and failed to even throw a punch at his younger rival, who put up his hands and retreated to the ropes. It was the first of many moments in the game that gave fans on social media the impression the two-time heavyweight champion wasn’t really trying to land the knockout he’d promised.
After all the pre-match fighting talk, Paul himself hardly went for a KO as he never really got close to putting Tyson on the deck. Both fighters had promised they’d go all out to ensure the fight wouldn’t go the distance, but Paul walked that back after the match. Asked if he ‘started to take his foot off the gas at any point, he said: “Yeah, definitely, definitely a bit. I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt someone who didn’t need to be hurt.”
The reaction to all that? Yeah…
One fan wrote: “Holy s*** Tyson vs Paul was an embarrassing s*** show. Absolute dog s***, who the f*** actually sanctioned this.” Another said: “My fight with Netflix to even stream Tyson vs Paul was a better fight than I witnessed in the ring,” while another raged: “The Jake Paul vs Tyson fight was totally staged and completely weak. The public was robbed.”
Still, at least everyone made loads of money.