Paul vs. Tyson: Why Netflix is ​​showing the boxing fight

The setting: This is what makes the fight spectacular

At first glance, it’s just a pretty irrelevant show fight: On Saturday night, Swiss time, Mike Tyson gets into the ring against Jake Paul (from 2 a.m.). Here’s the controversial boxing legend whose antics make it surprising that she’s still alive at 58. There is the loud-mouthed, 27-year-old YouTuber who has been trying to gain respect as a fighter for years. The sporting value? At most manageable.

And yet people are acting like this is the fight of the year. Of course, this is just PR talk and can serve as a verse in the swansong for boxing. More on that later. But there is also the framework that promises to set standards. 80,000 spectators can fit into the arena in Arlington, Texas, and the organizers are aiming for the largest indoor backdrop for a fight in the USA. What is much more important, however, is that Netflix, with its around 283 million subscribers, is broadcasting the duel live. This is actually spectacular.

The role of Netflix: TV, watch out!

Formula 1 shows the power of Netflix as a platform. Thanks to “Drive to Survive”, the racing series experienced an enormous surge in popularity, especially in the USA, where it had previously had a niche existence. The audience has become younger and more female.

Since then, a number of documentaries have been added, although hardly any of them have the entertainment value of “Drive to Survive”. Also because in the big sports that don’t need attention, the players have to be given a large say so that they can take part. With the result that the documentaries degenerate into boring, glossy advertising. A welcome exception: “In the peloton” about the Tour de France.

For a long time, the rule at Netflix was: yes, sport, but only in the form of documentaries. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in 2022: “We are not against sport, we are just for profit.” The sentence represented the company’s belief that it was not lucrative to bid for increasingly expensive sports rights.

But now Netflix, with its almost inexhaustible cash reserves, has had a rethink. The reason: Netflix now also broadcasts advertising; the company recently announced that more than half of its new subscribers choose a tariff with advertising. If many people watch the same program at the same time, Netflix can charge more money for advertising. Like on classic television.

At Christmas, the streaming giant will broadcast two NFL games, at a particularly attractive time when many people are sitting in front of the television and American football is about making it to the playoffs. Netflix is ​​said to have paid $75 million for each. In addition, the platform will broadcast the extremely popular wrestling show “Raw” weekly from 2025. The deal runs for ten years and costs Netflix $5 billion.

And then there’s Tyson vs. Paul, boomer hero vs. Generation Z star. The fight promises to appeal to a wide audience. Especially since Netflix spares no effort to promote it. A three-part documentary series serves as an appetizer; it is one of the most popular shows on the streaming service in this country these days.

Tyson: knockout machine and marijuana distributor

It is the strongest scene in the three-part documentary. Tyson sits on a weight bench and says he regrets a lot of the things he’s done in his life. What he could mean: He spent three years in prison for rape, bit off a piece of his opponent Evander Holyfield’s ear during a fight, was a drug addict and went broke. The camera zooms in very close to his sweaty face, which is marked by 58 fights, one for every year of his life. The key, Tyson says, is being able to deal with that regret. “You have to keep going, always keep moving.” In boxing it is said that a moving target is difficult to hit. “That also applies to life.”

Boxing has always provided excellent metaphors for life: falling down, getting up. Hardly anyone embodies this like Tyson. He grew up poor in Brooklyn, got on the wrong track and was sent to a reformatory at the age of 13. That’s how he got into boxing. First it was his therapy, then his catalyst, at 20 he became the youngest world heavyweight champion and a global star. In the late eighties and early nineties there were at most two athletes better known than him: Michael Jordan and Diego Maradona.

Tyson always seems a bit awkward next to the ring, which may be due to his lisp, but between the ropes no one was able to exert as much power as he did, even though at 178 centimeters he is small for a heavyweight. Tyson attacked his opponents like a fury, winning 44 of his 50 victories by knockout, 22 of them in the first round. An incredible balance sheet.

Why would someone like that get involved in a fight with Paul? The $40 million salary that both fighters should receive is of course an argument. Tyson has had amazing success as a distributor of marijuana products in recent years. Forbes estimates that his brand will generate sales of $150 million in 2023. Maybe he just needs a goal to work towards. To keep him moving.

Paul: Got rich thanks to stupid videos

When Tyson was at his peak, there was no internet, let alone social media. Promotional stories like Jake Paul’s were not yet possible. As teenagers in Cleveland, Ohio, he and his older brother Logan, also a star, were given a video camera by their father. You should film yourself playing football to make progress. Instead, they made stupid videos that became increasingly popular. They used their popularity to build a social media empire.

Jake Paul has over 20 million followers on YouTube alone and 27 on Instagram. He also has drug escapades and scandals behind him, and he also found a meaning in life in boxing. At least that’s what he says in the documentary. He has been fighting since 2018, with ten wins and one defeat. The fact that hardly anyone takes him seriously is due to his opponents. These include retired NBA stars and washed-up mixed martial arts fighters.

Boxing: crisis? Which crisis?

The fact that Tyson vs. Paul is made so big can be seen as an indication of the decline of boxing. In fact, the sport was going through a huge crisis. For years the promoters and organizers were unable to let the best boxers compete against each other. There was also the rise of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC for short, the largest organization for MMA fights. Boxing was threatened with insignificance.

Instead, the sport is on the rise again, thanks to Saudi money. A number of spectacular matches have recently taken place in Riyadh, the highlight being: In May, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Ussyk fought for the title of undisputed boxing world champion, with the winner combining the world titles of all recognized boxing associations. It was the first duel of this kind in 25 years. Ussyk, the Ukrainian, won. The new edition will follow at the end of December, of course again in Saudi Arabia.

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The newsletter for health, nutrition and exercise, compiled by recreational sports expert Pia Wertheimer.

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Dominic Wuillemin works as a sports editor at Tamedia and has been writing about sports topics since 2010 – with a focus on football.More info

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