For one weird Friday night in November, it seemed as if the world stopped to watch the same thing on Netflix. That alone was something. It felt exciting and rare, especially for combat sports.
Exactly what we all saw, and what it meant in any sort of broader sense, that part is up for debate.
But after Jake Paul’s unanimous decision victory over Mike Tyson at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Friday night, it’s worth stepping back for a look at the big picture. Here are five key takeaways from this, uh, unique cultural moment.
1. We were promised a spectacle, and we got one.
I know some people are mad about this fight. Some because they hate the idea of Paul being able to live out his days with a win over Tyson. Others because they believed in all the pre-fight vows of blood and vengeance. At least a few probably just hated seeing this very real reminder that aging is no joke. But ask yourself, what did you give and what did you get in this exchange?
What you didn’t give was the $80 or whatever that most big fights go for on pay-per-view these days. This was on Netflix, a reasonably priced streaming service that most of us already have. All we had to do was stay home on a Friday night to watch.
Did it feel like a glorified (and obscenely profitable) sparring session in the end? Absolutely. Was it still big and loud and dumb and fun on the way there? Sure it was. If you expected too much more than that from the influencer versus the old man, maybe that’s on you.
2. The most strenuous part of this fight for Paul had to be carrying Tyson all the way to the end.
“The Problem Child” fought like a man whose only goal was to win without hurting his friend. It’s understandable. As much as he might love trolling the public, even Paul didn’t want to be the guy who did something terrible to an aging and diminished version of a boxing great. That’s bad business because it doesn’t generate repeat customers.
So he picked away at Tyson. He jabbed and moved. He stayed just busy enough. He let Tyson off the hook when needed, and he never even came close to putting his foot all the way down on the gas pedal.
The people who expected a bloodbath were certainly disappointed by this, but I’m reminded of when people got mad at “The Sopranos” creator David Chase for that controversial ending to the final episode. As Chase pointed out later, some things you only think you want to see. If someone actually showed you that, you wouldn’t thank them for it. You’d actually probably feel a little sick.
3. As far as fulfilling the desire for a real fight, well, that’s what Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano was for.
Once again, these two found some magic together. And, once again, the decision angered as many people as it pleased. But were you not entertained?
This was a thrilling fight from start to finish, with all the blood and brawling you could ever hope for. Personally, I scored it for Serrano even without the point deduction against Taylor for repeatedly using her head as the tip of the spear. If you missed it because you didn’t care to tune in until Paul and Tyson were in the ring, that’s on you.
4. If Netflix really wants to do live sports, it has to do better than this.
The stream froze. The picture quality went from crystal clear to something you’d expect when trying to watch pirated Cinemax late at night. The whole thing just flat out didn’t work for lots of people. That’s frustrating enough when you’re trying to watch an old episode of “Bojack Horseman.” With a live sports broadcast of a major event — especially something like a fight, which is always only one punch away from being over — it’s a disaster.
In the year of our lord 2024, you no longer get much slack by pointing out that the event was simply too popular or too widely viewed for the stream to work properly. You definitely don’t get that slack if you want to show NFL games, which, as you may have heard, typically draw something of a crowd.
The one thing we expect of a streaming service is that it will work when we press play. If you can’t get that part down, the rest doesn’t really matter.
5. Tyson doesn’t have to go home, but he can’t stay here.
There might be no figure in American life who’s had more career comebacks than “Iron Mike.” His time as an elite boxer effectively ended over 20 years ago. Somehow he’s only become more beloved since then. You’ve got people who have lived their entire lives with Tyson as a celebrity mainstay somewhere in the periphery, and a lot of them never even knew the utterly terrifying and entirely unpredictable force he was back in his prime.
With all that going for him, can’t we find something for him to do that isn’t this? He put on an admirable effort for a man of advancing years, but prizefighting is not the kind of pursuit where you want to be good only when graded by a certain old man criteria. This is especially true if you’re going to be fighting much younger opponents.
It was sad to watch Tyson wobbling on shaky legs in that ring, and it still wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. He didn’t seem prepared to say he’d never do it again, but the rest of us should have learned our lesson from this. If all these people actually have the fond feelings for him that they claim to, they’ll find something else for him to do.
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