On Friday night, the two boxers will step into the ring at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. One of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time,”Worst man on the planet,” “Iron” Mike Tyson. The other is Jake Paul, a millennial influencer who built his career on prank videos, making bad music and scares his neighbors.
One might reasonably wonder what chance the Internet’s most outrageous star, a cruiserweight, has standing against Tyson; One could reasonably wonder how a 58-year-old, no matter how much practice, could beat a man 31 years younger. But to focus too much on the mechanics of boxing or athleticism in general is to miss the point. If all viewers want to see are the best boxers in the world fighting each other, well, those matches will probably enjoy more publicity. Instead, the lion’s share of attention goes to the rash Dominant-Boxer Those who quarrel with each other and settle them with their fists.
Paul and Tyson now occupy much of this new territory in the world’s oldest sport: celebrities whose controversial pasts provide ammunition for a public that has strong feelings about both. Although Friday’s match is a professional one (ie Regulated by an approving bodyTheir records will count, and in at least some states bets can be made), it will be more spectacle than sport. Organized by Paul’s promotion company, Most Valuable Promotions, and Netflix, which will stream the match live, it is part of the streaming service’s efforts to reach young male viewers and the advertisers who want to attract them.
With Netflix’s estimated 282 million subscribers, the largest of any platform, the match is expected to be a ratings hit. Originally scheduled for July, the bout was postponed to November due to Tyson’s ulcer on a flight. Paul, because of his age and recent record (10 wins, one loss and seven knockouts) already The winner is a favoriteBut now the betting odds are even more in his favour, currently standing at minus-210. Per BetMGM Sportsbook.
Tyson’s participation sparked controversy: Eddie Hearn, one of the industry’s biggest promoters, told ESPN He would not support the fight due to further risks to Tyson’s health. “That moment was them [MVP] Should have realized that it was actually a bad idea,” he said of Ulcer. “You just have to talk to him and look at him so that this guy is not in the ring again. … If I were Jake Paul, I’d be a little embarrassed to be honest with you. … It’s dangerous, irresponsible and in my opinion disrespectful to the sport of boxing.”
Most Valuable Promotions co-founder Nakissa Bidarian, however, maintains it will be a fair fight. “Paul has never been hit by anybody like Mike Tyson,” he told ESPN. “So people can say about the danger for Mike Tyson, he’s older. What about the danger of Jake Paul, who has never fought at this weight? He was never up there with a true heavyweight in his career. You can say that to both sides.”
It’s worth asking: What’s in it for everyone involved? Paul made his incentives clear: “I’m here to make $40 million and knock out a legend,” He said In an August press conference (Paul’s net worth About $80 million) Tyson, according to reports, will stand That’s about half the earningsTwice that Report Total value of $10 million. In addition to the payment, Paul made a video announcing that he would pay Tyson $5 million if Tyson could last more than four rounds. If he fails, Tyson must get a tattoo that reads, “I love Jack Paul.” (Tyson replied In an interview (That he would agree to another $20 million.)
For Tyson, this is another attempt to return to the spotlight in their full career. “This fight is not going to change my life financially,” he said LadBible said. “I seek my glory.” After his release from prison in 1995, he wrestled a series of comeback matches with Evander Holyfield, whom he would later Biting in both ears One of the most controversial moments in sports history. In the mid-2000s, with his $300 million earnings gone and bankruptcy, Tyson announced a series of exhibition fights to “get out of this financial quagmire”. said at this timeAlthough it was canceled after only one fight. Tyson last fought 2003 world heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. in a 2020 exhibition match and is now on a run Successful cannabis companies.
Netflix, meanwhile, has been pushing heavily into live events over the past year. In January, it acquired the rights to WWE rawAnd earlier this year, it streamed the SAG Awards live for the first time, as well as other live events such as Roast of Tom BradyJoey Chestnut’s Labor Day Hot Dog Eating Contest, and John Mulaney’s Talk Show. It will stream two NFL games on Christmas Day.
Rich Greenfield, a partner at Lightshade Ventures who analyzes the streaming space, said it could be a “powerful tool” in the company’s bid for advertisers. “If you’re going to be in the advertising business, the power of something that needs to be seen in that moment and brings together millions of people is really important to advertising,” Greenfield said. Instead of buying the streaming rights to all the major sports organizations, or to big awards like the Oscars or Grammys, Netflix’s strategy seems to be creating their own smaller, less expensive moments. “Netflix already has subscribers. It’s now about creating unique events to drive ad sales,” said Greenfield.
These advertisers go after a key demographic: men, especially young men who pay attention to influencers like Paul. These youngsters don’t necessarily follow boxing, but they find recognizable faces compelling. As Brady Brickner-Wood explains New York Times Magazine Last year, “Influential boxers know something boxing purists don’t: that a fight without a narrative, no matter how poetic, is a hollow technical exercise.” No doubt there’s another draw for viewers who know about Paul and his men but don’t necessarily like them: “When you buy a Jack Paul fight, part of what you’re buying is the chance to see him punched in the face,” says Kelefa Sanneh. wrote The New Yorker last year
In anticipation of the fight, Netflix released a three-episode docuseries as Tyson and Paul prepare for battle. This, of course, is mere marketing: the bad elements of Paul and Tyson’s past are glossed over. It does not mention that Tyson was convicted of raping an 18-year-old in 1992 for which he served three years in prison or that he was Recently sued Raped another woman in 1990. This does not include the fact that he allegedly physically assaulted his ex-wife, actress Robin Givens; One biography reports that Tyson admitted to hitting him and It’s calling “Best punch I ever threw in my life.” Rather, the series shows several clips of Tyson in handcuffs while the voiceover says, “His life continues[ing] spiraling downward.” (Paul was also fined Promoting a crypto scam and has been Allegations of sexual harassment By co-influencer Justin Paradise as well as model and actress Riley Lollipop.)
Instead, viewers will discover that the idea for the match was born out of an ayahuasca ceremony Paul attended in Costa Rica, where he dreamed of fighting Tyson. It then shows Paul meditating and repeating to himself, “I, Jake Joseph Paul, will knock out and defeat Iron Mike Tyson.” He then reached out to Tyson, who enthusiastically agreed, according to Paul.
In one of its opening scenes, the documentary asks, “Why fight when you have all the fame and money in the world?” The answer, naturally, is that no amount of fame and money is enough for those who stake their lives on such things. Being a celebrity in 2024 means that the moment people move away from your face, the world moves away, your sole role is to create a growing mountain of content so that your face can find them again. Although Paul and Tyson occupy vastly different places in modern pop culture, they both understand that fame and money are probably the only things worth punching in the face.
