In an unsurprising turn of events, 27-year-old Jake Paul defeated 58-year-old Mike Tyson in the highly-anticipated Netflix fight. Paul won by unanimous decision, landing more than twice as many punches on Tyson than Tyson landed on him. Anyone watching could notice that Tyson was past his prime. He was slow to get up from his corner, stagnant in the center of the ring, and unable to get in close on Paul.
Keen-eyed viewers noticed other patterns as well, most notably Tyson’s tendency to bite his glove during the fight. While peculiar, this isn’t anything new for Tyson. Here’s a quick explanation.
Mike Tyson has bitten his gloves before
While close-up footage of Mike Tyson during his heyday is hard to come by, we can go back to his exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr. in November 2020 for some evidence.
Just as he did against Paul, Tyson can be seen in the video biting his left-hand glove.
Why does Tyson bite his gloves?
While this could be a maneuver Tyson does to keep his mouthguard tight, Mike Tyson’s answer to Ariel Helwani’s question after the match is a much more fun answer.
Of course, this is in reference to when Tyson infamously bit Evander Holyfield’s ear during their second bout in 1997. Everyone laughed; Holyfield probably cringed.
As crazy as it sounds, though, Tyson’s joke answer might hold more water than we think. Tyson might just tend to put soft, fleshy, ear-like substances in his mouth and bite down. As he said after the fight, sometimes fighters get caught up in the moment and aren’t thinking straight. They act without realizing what they are doing, so perhaps Tyson’s tendency to bite his glove was merely a tick that he does regularly.
Why did the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight broadcast cut in and out on Netflix?
Netflix’s live stream of the Jake Paul – Mike Tyson fight got off to a rough start, as buffering issues paused the Neeraj Goyat vs. Whindersson Nunes fight for several moments.
At one point, some users were forced to sign back in, just as Goyat began toying with Nunes in the second and third rounds.
The Netflix stream again sputtered toward the end of the sixth and final round of the fight, which Goyat won by unanimous decision.
And the service also suffered a buffering issue that paused the stream during the between-round analysis among Cedric the Entertainer, former champion Ray Jones Jr. and actress Rosie Perez.
According to Down Detector, the ongoing Netflix issue has led to thousands of outrage reports.
Netflix hasn’t yet addressed the buffering problems.
How much will Mike Tyson and Jake Paul make from their Netflix fight?
While the exact amount has not yet been officially revealed, the fight purse for Paul vs. Tyson is about $80 million, Sporting News reports. The outlet notes that Paul could earn half that amount for participating.
Tyson, on the other hand, is expected to make around $20 million for the fight. The amount is lower by comparison, possibly due to Paul’s company, Most Valuable Promotions, working with Netflix to organize the event and make the fight happen, according to Screen Rant.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Tyson biting his gloves and Netflix cutting out explained
