On July 20 in Dallas’s AT&T Stadium, which can hold 80,000 spectators, former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson will face off against YouTuber turned pugilist Jake Paul. This battle will be the first combat sports event streamed live on Netflix.
Paul has built a successful career as a boxer despite his scant experience. He is thirty years Tyson’s junior. Although he first gained notoriety as a YouTube prankster, he has now parlayed his surprise competence into a successful boxing career.
Despite facing questionable opponents, he had gotten off to a decent start to his fighting career, clocking 6-0 until his loss to Tommy Fury. After that, he won his subsequent three bouts. According to Paul, he has even greater goals in mind after his ensuing battle with Tyson. He is determined to become a world champion.
He said this bout is his opportunity to show the world who he is by taking on the most dangerous boxer of all time, the baddest man on Earth, and the best heavyweight champion who has ever lived.
(Tyson, 57, is a retired old man.)
In recent years, Netflix has expanded into sports, launching the highly acclaimed Formula One documentary series Drive to Survive. The streaming service has also shown two recent live athletic events: one featuring Spanish tennis greats Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz and another involving Formula One racers and golfers.
Tyson, widely regarded as one of the all-time great fighters, retired from boxing in 2005 with a record of 50-6, including 44 knockouts.
Although Tyson was the undisputed heavyweight champ when he retired, when a video of the ex-champion using a cane to help walk after suffering from sciatica surfaced, fans immediately took notice.
There is legitimate concern amongst fans, and even maybe in the Tyson camp, that the former champ is not up to this task.
The broadcast should make a lot of money.