The long-awaited fight between Jake “El Gallo” Paul and Mike Tyson is here. The former YouTube star will challenge the retired professional boxer and heavyweight champion on Friday, November 15. The fight is going to be held at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home to the Dallas Cowboys. The stadium holds a capacity of 80,000, which will likely be sold out. Paul is set to make 40 million dollars, double Tyson’s 20 million, for participation.
Tonight will be the test for Netflix’s expansion into live programming. Netflix has been making a push into streaming live shows for audiences with mixed success. The streaming service began piloting its livestreams in 2023, airing various events from sports, to ceremonies, to comedy specials, none of which had particularly impressive viewership.
Successful live streams aired by the streaming corporation like “The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady” and comedian John Mulaney’s talk show “Everybody’s in LA” grossed more than 2 million combined live views on their debuts earlier this year. However, Netflix’s live-streaming capabilities have not all run smoothly. The streamer was forced to delay its live “Love is Blind” reunion in April due to the strain caused by millions of users tuning in at once and eventually released a taped episode the following day instead—garnering around 6.5 million views.
The Paul v. Tyson fight is expected to reign in a much larger audience than in the past, with Jake Paul predicting 25 million will tune in to the match. With Netflix live programming events on the horizon with even greater expected audiences, like two live NFL games on Christmas Day, the streamer cannot afford to buckle under the strain of live viewership on tonight’s smaller scale.
Boxing has a reputation for fixed matches and predetermined outcomes, so is this blockbuster matchup legitimate or already decided? In the 2016 Summer Olympics, an independent investigation found that boxing scorecards and matches had been manipulated for financial gain, and even Mike Tyson admitted that some of his fights from the 1990s were likely rigged to suit the boxing narrative of the era. After Tyson slapped Paul at the weigh-in on Thursday night, a fight ‘script’ was leaked to the public claiming that Paul would win in the fifth round, but there is no evidence that this document is genuine. In a past match between Paul and boxer Tommy Fury, a supposed script was also leaked but debunked within seconds. Although boxing has a history of dubious legitimacy, there is no indication that this match is already decided.
Despite Jake Paul’s previous documentaries, “Problem Child” and the “Mind of Jake Paul”, Netflix has created a new documentary, “Countdown: Paul vs. Tyson”, to hype the upcoming show. Mike Tyson slapped Jake Paul after he “invaded” his space at the weigh-in Thursday night. In response to the incident, Paul commented after the weigh-in “[Tyson] must die.”
