Jake Paul defeats Mike Tyson in underwhelming first live Netflix sports event

We tried to look away. We tried to convince ourselves that this was just a joke and another one of those over-hyped made-up, athletic sort-of-legitimate contests—but we couldn’t.

Instead, it was like driving by an accident scene on the highway where you can’t help but slow down and take a look.  Call it a Netflix Gapers block if you will, which may even be more appropriate because many Netflix viewers complained that the reception for the fight was less than stellar including sound interruptions and picture quality not anywhere near top level. Social media viewers reported the same problems.

The fight itself? Not horrible, but not exactly scintillating. Call it somewhere in the vast inbetween and that we should mention was only for the viewers who stayed up late enough on a Friday night to watch as the match did not start until well after the 8:00 p.m. advertised time. 

Finally, somewhere around 11:00 p.m., the much younger Jake Paul defeated the 58-year-old icon and ex-heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and he did so by unanimous decision from the judges. No knockdowns, no knockouts— just 8 rounds of less than stellar, but (I suppose) still entertaining boxing match.

Tyson had some moments early, but as the match wore on, his 58-year-old legs started to tire,  and Paul began to gain the advantage.  The last few rounds were clearly favoring Paul who was moving at a faster and quicker pace, but again no knockout or knockdowns were forthcoming.

After the match, Paul was gracious and then some in his description of Mike Tyson, calling him one of his heroes while growing up. He added that it was an honor for him to be in the same ring as the ex-champ.

Maybe the big winner of the fight? Netflix, which showed the match free of cost on its regular channel, and as mentioned at the beginning of this article—people just couldn’t turn away. Early estimates were well over 100 million viewers.

Perhaps on a more interesting note was the women's boxing segment featuring Puerto Rico's Amanda Serrano versus Ireland's Katie Taylor. Now this was a match could not have been more gruesome, complete with several headbutts from Taylor that warranted boos from the crowd and ended in a nasty face wound for Serrano. Taylor ultimately took home the belt, much to the crowd's dismay. Regardless of whether it was a fair fight or not, it had much more action than watching Paul and Tyson dance around the ring. 

So, there you have it. The big hyped boxing match is finally over, and I am happy to report you can now return to your regularly scheduled programming.