Former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson and cruiserweight prospect Jake Paul are set to headline a Most Valuable Promotions-promoted (MVP) fight card on July 20th at the AT&T Stadium Arlington in Texas, in a contest slated to be a heavyweight bout. Moreover, the fight will be able to be streamed live on Netflix without an additional pay-per-view (PPV) price attached to it, further marking the event as one of Netflix‘s few live-streams set to be held this year.
In 2023, Netflix introduced the ability to view shows or events via live-streams, with comedian/actor Chris Rock’s Selective Outrage special featuring as the first official television event to be streamed live on the global streaming service. Now boxing has emerged as part of Netflix’s limited schedule of live-stream events, with Mike Tyson and Jake Paul serving as the drivers for the streaming service’s first-ever live sports broadcasting event.
As 57-year old Tyson is thirty years Paul’s senior, it should be noted that their headlining heavyweight bout will be considered an exhibition, thus preventing the fight from counting on both fighters’ professional records. However, the unlikely match-up is set for both a historic and record-breaking achievement with a good portion of 260 billion Netflix subscribers expected to tune in to the event.
For boxing, the event will be a double-edged sword with Mike Tyson and Jake Paul both not being considered top competitors within the sport. While there may be extra attention drawn towards the event―and boxing as a whole―due to Netflix’s wide global subscriber base, the very formation of a fight between two popular figures who are not currently known as top fighters in the sport only continues on the latest trend of “YouTube events”; exhibition cards which feature popular individuals, usually through social media, who do not have the intention or the ability to actually compete as professional boxers.
While both Paul and Tyson have had experience as pro boxers, with the latter in particular still regarded as one of the most recognizable figures from boxing, their fight does nothing for the sport in a competitive sense. Arguments might be made of younger impressionable fans tuning in more into the sport, but as we are dealing with as-of-yet unquantifiable factors, it is difficult to ascertain how boxing as a whole will benefit from this event.
The most glaring aspect of this heavyweight bout is the difference in age between the two competitors, which heavily puts the bout into “circus show” territory with there being no indication a 57-year old Mike Tyson can be near as competitive as he was two decades ago. Jake Paul also does not do justice to his own career, having moved on to professional [albeit inactive] fighters for his last two bouts only to move backwards by choosing to fight a celebrity rather than an active competitor within his division.
Some might cite Tyson’s past achievements in the heavyweight division as a sign that the bout might be more competitive, but signs of the former undisputed [of the three-belt era] heavyweight champion’s decline were already evident when he fought fellow American boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. during a similar exhibition in 2020; the same event that Jake Paul himself featured on in his second professional fight against former professional basketball player Nate Robinson.
Despite the questionable match-up and the creeping doubts as to the actual benefit for boxing, the event―which Netflix will stream globally―will most likely trump the attention of most other boxing events held this year, ensuring that the headlining fighters and undercard fighters will be paid handsomely for their participation.
However, the hardcore boxing segment of the sport will not look kindly towards the exhibition event taking away eyes from better-matching and competitive boxing fights―especially when the actual windfalls for the sport cannot be fully determined, in the short- or long term.
The exact number of rounds Tyson and Paul will participate in, as well as the undercard of fighters, have not yet been revealed but is expected to be revealed in the next couple of weeks, with the full details of the fight presumably set to be divulged during the launch press conference between the two fighters.
