How big a deal was Paul Vs Tyson?
Posted by ThaNightcrawler@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 109 comments
How big was the paul Vs Tyson fight in the US? Did everyone know it was happening? Did anyone/everyone care?
noldshit@reddit
I know a bunch of friends watched it. It was pretty much old school Vs new school. End result was a letdown and an insult to the sport
InvincibleChutzpah@reddit
I didn't know about it until the day after, cause a couple guys at work were talking about it. I guess if you're into boxing, it was a big deal? I dunno. I honestly don't even know who won.
Blutrumpeter@reddit
Not a big deal. More people have heard of Mike Tyson than Jake Paul but most the people wanting to watch are always online and typically younger because they want to see Jake Paul lose. Huge compared to any other boxing match though
SKatieRo@reddit
I had to look it up when I read your question because I had heard nothing about it at all. I had heard of Mike Tyson dod already know that he was some sort of fighter who lisps. But I didn't know that there was something going on with him.
Konigwork@reddit
It’s hard to say. There were apparently 120 million people on Netflix, and it was in front of 90k people. Not sure if the 120 million were watching (or more like TRYING TO WATCH) the fight, because the site kept crashing. Netflix sucks at live service television.
However, overall boxing has become less of a cultural event these days, not least because of the fights being relegated behind expensive PPV channels/ESPN+. I think this fight was more of a one off “let’s hope Tyson kills a YouTube kid in the ring” rather than a restart of our country’s historical fascination with the sport.
TopperMadeline@reddit
Boxing, along with horse racing, has become a niche event in the country over the last several decades.
DoubleSpoiler@reddit
I didn’t realize horse racing was big in America
CaliforniaHope@reddit
Horse rodeos are also pretty big in states like Wyoming, Texas, and probably Arizona too—basically anywhere with a decent cowboy culture, afaik.
Gallahadion@reddit
Horse racing was once one of the 3 biggest sports in the U.S., but that hasn't been true for some time. I've been watching it since the early 90s and it's been waning in popularity ever since, mostly regulated to certain cable channels. It's a wonder the entire Triple Crown still airs on network (i.e. non-cable) TV.
TopperMadeline@reddit
It’s really big in my home state of Kentucky due to the Kentucky Derby (at least leading up race day).
sabotabo@reddit
i will say i went to a wing restaurant last night that was PACKED, and at least one person there was yalking about it. it's anecdotal, but you know 🤷♂️
LieutenantStar2@reddit
70K people. That arena doesn’t hold 90K
BusinessWarthog6@reddit
On your second point, Jake Paul has gotten shit for fighting retired WWE guys and not “real” boxers. I think he chose this one because Tyson is a boxing icon and he thinks it will get him more respect if he fights a real boxer
Konigwork@reddit
He thought that assaulting a guy who is 4 years out from qualifying for social security would get him more respect?
BusinessWarthog6@reddit
In a way maybe, we know he wasn’t gonna fight a pro close in to his age so now he can say he has a win over Mike Tyson on his record
Zealousideal_Let3945@reddit
It was a big enough deal to fill the stadium, get people talking about Netflix and pay Tyson 20,000,000.
It was manifest on memes and amygdala response.
Very 21st century!
Confetticandi@reddit
Most people don’t care about boxing at all. So, the average reaction was, “Oh yeah, I heard that was happening,” and that’s about it.
Popular-Positive-331@reddit
i dont care about boxing and didnt know until it was over and the media kept talking about it
travelinmatt76@reddit
I didn't know about it till just now. Does Tyson still fight?
zffch@reddit
My mom live texted me the play by play. She was just hoping Jake Paul would get his ear bit. I probably wouldn't have cared even if he did.
BusinessWarthog6@reddit
The “fight” sucked. Most people that watched it were probably hoping for prime Iron Mike to return but he looked every bit of 58. Jake Paul fans probably watched it because they like him and his content. Netflix has to get better at sports before the NFL on Christmas and WWE next year. A lot of people will be pissed if the NFL game is buffering and lagging
Freedum4Murika@reddit
Yeah my people are furious lol. Even Peacock can live stream Sunday Night Football. How was Netflix so bad at this?
BusinessWarthog6@reddit
Think how many more people will watch the NFL game. If they can’t handle 90k or whatever last night a few million is gonna be a shitshow
Slow_D-oh@reddit
90k was the maximum attendance. They likely had millions of streamers, I guess their last live event was a reunion show for Love is Blind and they had the same issue with six million viewers. Christmas Day NFL games will likely bring in 20+ million viewers, and unless last night was at Super Bowl levels someone better get busy adding capacity.
Freedum4Murika@reddit
Remember when DeSantis tried to launch his campaign on X and they had no video but it sounded worse than an AOL chatroom in 1998, and it doomed his campaign it was so bad?
I want that for Netflix.
The_Better_Devil@reddit
Peacock has NBC under its umbrella who have been live brodcasting sports for literal decades. Netflix does not have that wealth of experience and equipment behind them.
sarcasticorange@reddit
Because you have a very good idea of how many people are going to watch an NFL game before it even starts.
1174239@reddit
Much of what I saw of that broadcast seemed like a giant ad for other stuff on Netflix
WhoDatDatDidDat@reddit
14oz gloves. If I’m gonna sit down and watch two millionaires have a pillow fight it’s gonna be on pornhub.
therealjerseytom@reddit
What's the significance of the glove weight? For those of us who don't usually follow this stuff
WhoDatDatDidDat@reddit
The fists inside them are slower and softer.
Slobbadobbavich@reddit
I didn't realise this. That explains a lot.
byebybuy@reddit
And 2 minute rounds instead of 3.
Slobbadobbavich@reddit
To be fair to Tyson, I don't think his legs could handle 3 minutes.
byebybuy@reddit
Yeah it was a pretty depressing sight.
itcheyness@reddit
You don't want to watch two shirtless men in silk shorts fighting over a belt and a purse?
WhoDatDatDidDat@reddit
Not if they don’t suck each other dry at the end.
itcheyness@reddit
Apparently Tyson had his ass out at one point during the pre-fight stuff.
r2d3x9@reddit
Yes and the woman commentator said “I didn’t need to see that”. Then they replayed the clip 10 minutes later. In the clip, he kisses his son, turns around and as he walks away from the camera you can see totally bare ass.
WhoDatDatDidDat@reddit
That’s the risk you take bringing cameras into a dressing room.
G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit
I tried to avoid hearing about it but unfortunately was unsuccessful. I have no idea who Jake Paul or whatever his name is is and hope I never hear it again.
Gallahadion@reddit
The only reason I was reminded that it was happening was due to the evening news feeling the need to mention that Tyson slapped Paul before the fight.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
The vast majority of people aren’t really into boxing.
The people that are knew this fight was a total joke.
It was, in fact, a total joke.
Random_Heero@reddit
That Taylor Serrano fight before was solid though
CupBeEmpty@reddit
That’s what I heard but I didn’t see any of it. May watch some clips.
therealjerseytom@reddit
None of us saw much of it 🙄 Felt like I was trying to stream the fight on dial-up, Netflix's bandwidth was so bad
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Yeah I heard it was trash streaming
r2d3x9@reddit
Two women giving each other brain damaging concussions. They were giving their all. Then the shady judging…Serrano clearly should have won. Taylor seemed semi-incoherent after although I don’t know what she sounded like beforehand to compare. Unpleasant to watch. I’d rather watch MMA
earthhominid@reddit
Who won?
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Paul in an 8 round decision, nothing exciting at all.
horatio_corn_blower@reddit
Pretty sure the people who aren’t into boxing knew it was a total joke as well
byebybuy@reddit
Can confirm, although tbh I was holding out hope that it would at least be an entertaining bout. It was super boring and lame.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Pretty much
jwfowler2@reddit
Just a lot of dancing, and even the dancing wasn’t very good.
jrhawk42@reddit
Short term: It was the biggest thing going on this week.
Long term: a completely forgettable event that has no significance on our culture. There will be jokes and memes for a couple weeks until the next distraction comes along.
Current_Poster@reddit
Boxing has dropped off, a lot. The last time everyone knew who the heavyweight world champion was it was Mike Tyson, back in the 90s. He's probably still the only boxer everyone knows.
There are numerous reasons- MMA taking off, for example , but most of it has to do with the title being ununified. There's a lot of "undefeated" fighters walking around, having loads of fights against easy fighters- "professional opponents" who look credible but aren't. (Tyson vs Peter McNeely, for example.) That way they end up building up ludicrous win-loss records,and not fighting each other.
So, you end up with the most popular fights of the last few years being "stunt" fights- Mayweather vs McGregor (Basically retired vs not-a-boxer) for example. And so, here we are, Mike Tyson vs an influencer as a circus attraction.
Most people seem to assume it was fixed. (More likely, someone noticed that, because people didn't really pay attention to boxing since his prime, they sorta assumed he was still kinda in his prime. So they brought him in as a professional opponent, for a lot of money.) So not as many people were taking it seriously as they might.
Primary_Excuse_7183@reddit
It wasn’t. The only significant part of it was Netflix showing us they want to stream sports but weren’t prepared for the volume.
Judgy-Introvert@reddit
Contrary to the chatter on here, it was a big deal. I personally didn’t watch, but all my social media feeds were consumed with it. It dominated news and sports sites. It was nothing more than a money grabbing match from what it looked like, but to say it wasn’t a big deal overall is laughable.
ilPrezidente@reddit
Pretty much everyone knew it was happening, and I guess contrary to what this thread is saying in a broad stroke, almost everyone (including non-sports fans) that I know was watching it. Even my mom, who despises combat sports, texted me and said she was watching the prelims.
Paul claimed that 120 million people tuned in, which means it would rival the Super Bowl and be one of the biggest live sporting events of the year. I don't know if that's the case, but the fact is they sold out AT&T Stadium and made it look like the biggest fight in history. The sheer scale of memery this morning definitely lends me to believe that around 100 million people watched.
Judgy-Introvert@reddit
Yea. I think this thread is downplaying how big it was. All my social media platforms were filled with people talking about it. It was all over the news and every sports site was reporting on it before, during and after. Interested or not, it was a big deal.
Lobisa@reddit
I have basically never watched boxing voluntarily. I watched it. I was super impressed with the gals before that fight, but bored with the Tyson fight.
Bisexual_Republican@reddit
I didn’t even know it had happened yet. To me it was just another Friday.
PineapplePikza@reddit
It was a blatant cash grab by a clown and an old washed up legend who had no business being in the ring anymore.
No-Jacket-6759@reddit
Fight was trash lmao. It was literally just a 27 year old beating the shit out of a grandpa
IanSan5653@reddit
Everyone knew it was happening and everyone was proud of how much they hated it. We were united in our disdain.
MarcatBeach@reddit
for Tyson fans it was good to see him get a paycheck. It was really about older generations getting to see him fight again.
r2d3x9@reddit
Someone told me about it last night. Haven’t watched a boxing match in like 20 years. Paul was definitely holding back. The women fighting in the match before could have taken Tyson. I would much rather watch MMA, it is more skillful
Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit
Most people who watched it hate watch. I didn’t watch it because I learned my lesson after 1st 10 times when he fought people and all of them phoned it in and went to decision. Culturally I don’t think it’s a big deal on its own. But with Netflix getting into the live event space with football (NFL) it is significant from that standpoint, particularly because of how dogshit it seemed to be with the broadcasting constantly freezing
Mrcoldghost@reddit
I didn’t know it was even a thing.
SatisfactionKey4949@reddit
No idea I just don't like Jake Paul
waltzthrees@reddit
I didn’t know it was happening. I was using Nexflix yesterday and the algorithm never even showed it to me.
haveanairforceday@reddit
I didn't even hear about it until like 2 days before. Everyone i know that mentioned it just wants to see Paul get put in his place. But i dont think i know anybody that cares enough to actually watched it live
AyAyAyBamba_462@reddit
It was a shame. I was Hoping Tyson would kill Paul.
PartyLikeaPirate@reddit
For people under 40, it’s likely the only time we’ve watched Tyson box live & it was featured on Netflix.
evil_burrito@reddit
Meh. Didn’t watch, didn’t care.
Nothing like watching Tyson in the 80s. That was a big deal.
58yo should not be in the ring.
NorwegianSteam@reddit
It allowed me to introduce Hagler-Hearns to a couple friends that had never watched a boxing match before, so not all was lost.
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
The vast majority of people do not care and did not pay attention.
I am even a boxing fan and I skipped that clown show.
Its the type of event that gets some interest in part because not much else was happening last night in the world of sports and entertainment.
I_MARRIED_A_THORAX@reddit
The undercards were pretty good at least
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
That's what I've heard. More and more that seems to be the case with big fights.
I just didn't want to put up with the rest of the circus with commentators who have no business being involved and whatnot.
nowhereman136@reddit
Honestly didn't even know this was a thing before I logged in on reddit this morning and saw the memes.
jabbadarth@reddit
I ended up catching the last round which may have been the most boring round of boxing I've ever seen as a casual observer.
It was interesting just to see tyson step in the ring again, but like every other person paul has fought tyson wasn't in it to win, he just wanted a paycheck (which to be honest is completely fair) and maybe a chance just to see what he could still do.
Danibear285@reddit
None
udderlymoovelous@reddit
Not that big of a deal, most people aren't into boxing, and the people who did watch it wanted Tyson to beat Paul
ItsTheExtreme@reddit
The Tyson fight sucked, but the woman’s match was incredible. Absolutely brutal and maybe the wrong woman won, but that was worth the watch alone.
If anyone is at all curious I would suggest that flight and nothing else.
dreaday4@reddit
If you're a boxing fan or grew up watching Mike Tyson fight, you probably tuned in last night just hoping somehow he still had it in him to knock that a$$ out. The preliminary fights were also pretty good / worth watching.
1biggeek@reddit
Logan couldn’t knock a 58 year old man down? Or even close? Boring.
Sabertooth767@reddit
I'm not one to defend Jake Paul, but I think it was more wouldn't than couldn't. Which is respectable, nobody wants to see Mike Tyson go down like that.
Jefffahfffah@reddit
Agreed, I'm not a fan of his but I have to respect how he treated Mike.
ThisCarSmellsFunny@reddit
It was Jake
Efficient-Judge-9294@reddit
Nope. Tbh, I predicted Jake Paul would win. Jake Paul is young and Mike Tyson is an older man past his prime.
Vexonte@reddit
It was a water cooler thing. People knew it was going on, talked about it for the day, but a vast majority found themselves too busy with other things to watch the fight.
Me and probably many more people heard about it long before, but I thought it got canceled or already happened sometime last year.
If_I_must@reddit
It was heavily advertised, so I knew it was coming. I did not care. I have no idea who won, although I'm sure I'll learn sometime in the next week through no fault of my own.
tarheel_204@reddit
I don’t watch boxing regularly at all and even then, I tuned in along with most of my friends. I think we all expected Jake Paul to win but we all had that sliver of hope that prime Iron Mike would listen to the voices and throw that one knockout punch
rocketblue11@reddit
It could have been a really huge deal! But the fight itself was anticlimactic, and Netflix’ production left a lot to be desired.
The two fights before were excellent even with the controversial call in the women’s fight. (And the opener was a joke, haha.)
But in end, the main event was a young dude in his prime vs a 58 year old who still has the power but has lost the speed and balance. To Paul’s credit, he recognized the situation and clearly held back.
No one will take Paul seriously unless he fights actual boxers in his actual age and weight class.
Littleboypurple@reddit
Fight was a joke from the start and seemingly was a joke til the end.
If Jake Paul lost, congrats you lost to a pushing 60 years Mike Tyson well past his prime.
If Mike Tyson lost, congrats Jake, you managed to beat a pushing 60 years Mike Tyson past his prime.
It wasn't a serious match, most people just wanted to see a Paul brother get punched.
dangleicious13@reddit
I knew it was happening because I use the internet. I don't give a shit about boxing and I especially don't give a shit about either of the Paul brothers. Would have had to pay me to watch the fight last night.
hornbuckle56@reddit
Nothing at all like the PPV heavyweight boxing of old. Basically just a sideshow to watch while doom scrolling.
Suspicious-Peace9233@reddit
It does not matter
TsundereLoliDragon@reddit
I mean I knew it was going to happen. Then that it got delayed. And now that it apparently happened yesterday.
MoonieNine@reddit
The women's fight was amazing. We were glued to the screen, and neither of us likes boxing.
DoublePostedBroski@reddit
I had no idea this was a thing until I saw Mike Tyson’s ass cheeks on Reddit this morning.
Deedeelite@reddit
There's more action in ballroom dancing than there was in that fight. It was pathetic.
stargazertony@reddit
Well, Paul got 40 million and Tyson got 20 million so it was a big deal for them. As for me, completely uninterested.
triskelizard@reddit
I’m aware of it because Reddit seems to care. Nobody I actually know has mentioned it at all as far as I have noticed, either in person or on social media
BankManager69420@reddit
The vast majority of people don’t care about boxing. It’s not really one of the common sports here. I would say this fight was kind of a big deal just because of the fact that if you know nothing about boxing, these are probably the only two boxers you actually know of.
I didn’t watch it, and neither did anyone I know, but it’s definitely something I looked up afterwards to see the result.
HajdukNYM_NYI@reddit
I didn’t even know it took place last night until I checked the ESPN app at night at work. Didn’t help it ended around midnight but yes I was curious to see who “won”. The sports media treated it like a big deal I’ll say that
ThisCarSmellsFunny@reddit
The main event didn’t start until midnight
Arleare13@reddit
I vaguely knew it was happening. Not sure why I should care. Watching an internet troll fight a 60-year-old criminal doesn’t interest me very much.
TheBimpo@reddit
No, everyone did not know it was happening. Other than things like a presidential election, there are very few universal events anymore.