Social media personality Jake Paul defeated former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in what some say could be the most-watched boxing event of all time on Friday.

Paul conquered the boxing legend by unanimous decision in Texas to win an intergenerational heavyweight battle.

All the hate from the pre-fight preparation was gone, with Paul even stopping to pay his respects by bowing to Tyson before the final bell rang at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

The fight was not close according to the judge’s cards, with one giving Paul an 80-72 advantage and the other two calling it 79-73.

Tyson came after Paul immediately after the opening bell and landed a few quick punches, but didn’t try much else the rest of the way. Paul looked more aggressive after Tyson’s quick burst in the opening seconds, but the punch wasn’t very effective. There were quite a few twists and turns and hiccups.

The event, which was broadcast live on Netflix, attracted a lot of attention due to the celebrity of the two participants, but also due to unusual circumstances. Some have called the match a farce and a disgrace to boxing which failed to live up to the hype, while others say the publicity is good for the sport.

Paul, 27, a former child star who built a huge success on YouTube in the 2010s, became a professional boxer four years ago.

He trains full-time with top coaches and has competed in several high-profile first-time matches, but none as big as Tyson.

Tyson, 58, one of the most famous boxers in history, was undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990 and retired in 2005.

He participated in an exhibition match in 2020 with Roy Jones Jr. that ended in a draw, but was plagued by health issues, including sciatica. Friday’s match was originally scheduled to take place in July, but had to be postponed after Tyson fell ill in May with a bleeding stomach ulcer.

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On October 19, 1989, Mike Tyson began training for a heavyweight title fight in Edmonton. Sparring Partners and the media lined up to get close to “Iron Mike.”

Both fighters could earn a big payday.

DraftKings Network estimates Tyson will earn US$20 million for the fight, while Paul – who co-founded Most Valuable Promotions, Netflix’s partner company to promote the event – is expected to earn double that amount.

The match is “a little sad”: former boxer

Spider Jones, a sports journalist and former amateur boxer in the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame, says the match is a “sham” and that Paul should challenge top contenders instead of a 58-year-old who is retired for almost two years. decades.

“What do we have in boxing when people pay this guy millions of dollars to see him fight someone who’s been over the hill for years?” he said.

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Former three-weight world champion boxer Duke McKenzie says he won’t tune in to Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fight because he’s not comfortable watching an old champion fighting an influencer for entertainment value and nothing else.

“It’s a little sad when there are so many fighters who give everything for the game and can’t make as much money if they try it. And you have a guy from YouTube who comes in, and he gets everything .”

Jones previously predicted that Tyson would knock out Paul in the first three rounds, but said that if Paul could withstand Tyson’s initial “hurricane”, his significant age advantage would give him the edge.

Either way, he says, “they’re both going to come out ahead on payday.”

Netflix has dabbled in live streaming before, but this will likely be its biggest live sporting event yet as streaming services increasingly move into the live sports space.

The fight lasted eight rounds of two minutes each, which is shorter than the three-minute rounds typical of professional men’s boxing. Both fighters also wore heavier 14-ounce boxing gloves, rather than the typical 10-ounce gloves.

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Fight enthusiasm in the world of boxing

Tyler Buxton, president of Mississauga-based United Promotions Boxing, says any publicity is good publicity when it comes to growing the sport.

“It’s huge,” he said. “It’s without a doubt the biggest boxing event of the year.”

Buxton favored Paul’s victory beforehand, saying he was “a much better boxer than people give him credit for”.

Matt Hoffar, CEO of Vancouver-based Empire Boxing Enterprises, says he was “surprised” when the fight was first announced, but it generated a lot of excitement in the boxing world, especially among fans who grew up watching Tyson in his prime.

He said before the match that the fight had too many variables to pick a winner.

“I would love to see Tyson come out and show people that boxers have a little bit of an upper hand over someone who just started boxing,” he said. “So I think we all applaud that.”