Jake Paul, winner of the Netflix fight against Mike Tyson, starred in THIS Disney show – The Week

On Saturday morning (Friday night in Texas), Jake Paul went toe-to-toe with boxing legend Mike Tyson for eight rounds in the ring and beat him by unanimous decision. But years before this, Jake Paul’s first claim to fame in mainstream entertainment was as “Dirk,” the not-so-bright live streamer he portrayed on the Disney show Bizaardvark.

As a content innovator, Jake Paul first tasted fame on the short-form video platform Vine back in 2013. In 2014, he moved to YouTube, almost as if predicting Vine’s decline in the years that followed. Paul went on to amass a sizeable following in lakhs over time and hit two crore on his channel alone.

But most kids from that era know him as Dirk Mann or “Dare-Me-Bro” in Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark, where he played a dumbed-down version of his own online persona until 2017. Bizaardvark starred Madison Hu (who plays Grace in the Netflix series Brothers Sun) and three-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo in lead roles, and was quite the rage among children.

Here is a short video clip from Disney’s Bizaardvark with Jake Paul as Dirk:

Jake Paul’s Dirk was a fan favorite among the target audience as kids quickly related to his portrayal of a vlogger on a YouTube-like platform and his slapstick humor generated quite a few laughs. Jake Paul’s brother, Logan Paul, also appeared on the show as Dare-Me-Bro’s sibling, Kirk Mann.

However, Disney announced that Jake Paul was leaving the show in the middle of its second season.

It was later revealed by Jake Paul that Disney fired him from the show following several media reports citing complaints from his neighbors of the massive house he was renting in West Hollywood. The neighbors said they did not approve of his “flamboyant lifestyle” and antics. Disney was at the time conscious of the public image of its cast members in Disney Channel shows aimed at children.

Jake Paul now flaunts the boxing legacy

With the latest win, Jake Paul joins a handful of people in the world to ever beat “Iron Mike” in the ring.

Bizaardvark series poster featuring Jake Paul (right, in black) with DeVore Ledridge, Olivia Rodrigo, Madison Hu and Ethan Wacker (R to L) | Disney

READ ALSO | Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight: ‘This is now my sport’ roars Paul as he wins by unanimous decision

“The Baddest Man on the Planet” tasted defeat for the first time when he lost his heavyweight title to Buster Douglas, ending his 37-0 run.

After him, four more people defeated Tyson – Evander Holyfield (twice; in 1996, 1997), Lennox Lewis (in 2002), Danny Williams (in 2004) and Kevin McBride (in 2005).

Olympic silver medalist and Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam is Jake Paul’s girlfriend. She, in her partner’s podcast BS with Jake Paulexpressed his concerns earlier this year about the fight with Mike Tyson, “I think you will win, but he is the most frightening competitor to me.”