Mike Tyson Vs Jake Paul Live on Netflix: How the Fight Was Planned

• Boxing Hall of Famer Mike Tyson is coming out of retirement to fight YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
• The match will be shown live on Netflix on Friday, a first for the streamer.
• Here’s how this unique matchup was arranged.

Mike Tyson will fight Jake Paul in Netflix’s first ever professional sports live stream on Friday.

After refining its live streaming capabilities with several events this year and last year, Netflix is ​​now trying to become a contender in the live sports space.

In January, New York Times reported that Netflix spent over $5 billion to get exclusive streaming rights to “WWE Raw” in the United States for 10 years beyond 2024 and the rights to stream other WWE shows outside of the United States.

The Times reported in May that Netflix also inked a three-year deal with the NFL to live stream a selection of football games.

Either deal could bring a new wave of sports fans to the streamer.

The first major live sports event for Netflix will be a heavyweight fight between Tyson, a 58-year-old retired Boxing Hall of Famer who has lost just six fights in his 20-year career, and Jake Paul, a 27-year-old. YouTuber who began his professional boxing career four years ago.

Here’s how the match ended up being scheduled.

Jake Paul’s first amateur boxing match was shared on YouTube

Before 2020, Jake Paul and his older brother Logan Paul were best known as content creators on the now defunct video app Vine and YouTube.

The Paul brothers switched to boxing in 2018 at a time when male YouTubers were settling feuds with amateur boxing matches.

In February 2018, KSI, a British YouTuber and rapper, challenged the Paul brothers to a match after winning a match against another YouTuber, Joe Weller.

Logan Paul eventually agreed to face KSI, while Jake Paul made an undercard match, the precursor to the main event, with KSI’s brother, Deji.

KSI told Talk sports in 2018, that over a million people paid to see the match, which ended with Logan Paul and KSI drawing and Jake Paul winning.

While Logan Paul and KSI continued to compete in several amateur bouts against influencers and professional boxers including Tommy Fury and Floyd Mayweather Jr, Jake Paul turned pro in 2020.

Jake Paul has competed in 11 fights since then, losing only one, and in 2021 he founded Most Valuable Promotions, a boxing promotion company, with his manager Nakisa Bidarian.

Tyson took notice of the YouTubers, telling reporters at a 2020 press conference that Jake Paul is a “God-gifted YouTube boxer.”

“Boxing owes these guys — YouTube boxers — some respect,” Tyson said. “Boxing was pretty much a dying sport. The UFC kicked our butt. Now we have these YouTubers, 20 million subscribers? Boxing is coming back thanks to these YouTube boxers.”

Related stories

Jake Paul made a deal with Netflix and then got Mike Tyson involved

Tyson came out of retirement once before in 2020 to fight Roy Jones Jr., which resulted in a draw. Jake Paul also participated in that event and won over Nate Robinson in the undercard bout.

Two years later, Jake Paul told YouTube sports channel Boxing Social that he wanted to fight Tyson and was sure he would win.

“The old generation of boxing with the new generation of boxing all mixed into one,” Jake Paul said. “When we were on the same card, we sold almost two million pay-per-views. So imagine if we wrestled, three million pay-per-views, four million pay-per-views.”

Tyson told Jimmy Kimmel live in June 2022 that the match would happen that year, but nothing was arranged.

ESPN reported Tuesday that Jake Paul made a deal with Netflix in November 2023 to live stream one of his boxing matches. He then chose Tyson as his opponent.

“A lot of names were thrown around, but once you hear the name Mike Tyson, it’s hard to question it,” Gabe Spitzer, Netflix’s vice president of sports, told ESPN. “Mike is a global superstar, someone who would potentially bring in casual boxing fans or even non-boxing fans, and we’re always looking for big, global events that add value to our members.”

On March 7, 2024, Netflix and Jake Paul announced that the fight with Tyson would take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, organized by Most Valuable Promotions.

“I’m here to make $40 million and knock out a legend,” Jake Paul said at a press conference in August. “I don’t care about anything else.”

He said in one Netflix press briefing in March: “My sights are set on becoming a world champion and now I have a chance to prove myself against the greatest heavyweight champion of all time, the baddest man on the planet and the most dangerous boxer of all time.”

USA today reported in September that Tyson said at a Cage Wars MMA event that he agreed to the fight so he could “perform in front of the world.”

“For me, that’s all I’ve ever known how to do since I was 14,” Tyson said.

The fight was delayed from July to November after Tyson suffered a stomach ulcer in May.

ESPN reported in November that the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation has sanctioned the fight, meaning it will go ahead unless one of the parties drops out.

The Netflix live stream begins at 8 p.m. ET, but before Jake Paul and Tyson’s fight, there will be two undercard fights and a co-main event fight between champion boxers Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.