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The fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson breaks a record, says Netflix
Retired American pro-boxer Mike Tyson (L) and American YouTuber/boxer Jake Paul (R) fight during the heavyweight boxing match at the AT&T Stadium Pavilion in Arlington, Texas, on November 15, 2024.
Timothy A. Clary | afp | fake images
The long-awaited boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson has already secured its place in the record books.
netflix said 60 million households around the world tuned in when Jake Paul defeated Mike Tyson, and the event peaked at 65 million streams. The subscription streaming service also said 50 million households watched Katie Taylor take on Amanda Serrano, making it the most-watched professional women’s sporting event in U.S. history.
The fight was also broadcast in more than 6,000 bars and restaurants in the US, setting the record for the largest commercial distribution of the sport.
“The mega boxing event dominated social media, broke records and even had our storage systems on the ropes,” Netflix posted on X Saturday.
The fight promoter, Most Valuable Promotions, co-owned by Paul, told CNBC that 72,300 people attended Friday night’s fight at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Dallas Cowboys stadium has a capacity for 80,000 spectators.
(L-R) Mike Tyson, Nakisa Bidarian and Jake Paul pose on stage during the press conference for the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson at Texas Live! in Arlington, Texas, on May 16, 2024.
Cooper Neill | fake images
Box office receipts for the fight exceeded $18 million in revenue, the promoter said.
It was the largest boxing gate in history outside of Nevada. The previous record was $9 million in box office receipts for the 2021 fight between Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders at AT&T Stadium.
MVP said the gate is also higher than for any non-Las Vegas UFC fight aside from Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez in New York City in 2016.
The fight dominated the social conversation, with #PaulTyson becoming the number one trending topic on X, formerly Twitter.
However, it wasn’t all good news for Netflix. Many viewers experienced buffering issues, streaming glitches, and low-resolution videos, which disrupted their ability to watch the fight.
Data from Downdetector showed people reporting issues throughout the night, with outages peaking at more than 95,000 around 11 p.m. ET.
Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of MVP, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Friday that both Tyson and Paul will earn eight figures from this fight and that Taylor and Serrano will also have record salaries for women’s boxing.
The fight between Paul, a 27-year-old YouTube influencer-turned-boxer, and Tyson, a 58-year-old boxing legend, was streamed on Netflix for free to subscribers.
The event also featured one of the most anticipated women’s boxing rematches in history: undisputed super lightweight champion Katie Taylor against unified featherweight champion Amanda Serrano.
Netflix has more than 283 million paid memberships in more than 190 countries. The fight was a major test for the streamer as it moves deeper into the sports space and boxing bypasses the pay-per-view model.
“The numbers don’t lie,” Paul said Wednesday at a news conference for the fight. “People want to see this and it’s an amazing achievement… This is a statement that we had the largest live gate outside of Las Vegas in the history of American boxing.”
Tickets for Friday’s fight cost between $58 and $1,500 each on StubHub. MVP has also sold high-end packages, including a $2 million VIP experience that comes with front-row seats. The promotion company said its 375 VIP seats were sold out.
For comparison, the biggest fight in Las Vegas history occurred in 2015 between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. That fight grossed more than $72 million, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
