Legendary boxer Mike Tyson’s much-awaited return to in-ring action ended in a defeat, with YouTuber Logan Paul getting a unanimous verdict on Saturday. The 58-year-old barely landed a punch as his much younger opponenet won by a big margin in the eight bout round at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Since Tyson was making a return to action after almost two decades, there was a lot of buzz in the lead up to the fight, and Netflix took the responsibility to stream the bout live across the globe.
In fact, Netflix live streamed the entire event, including the undercards. However, Netflix witnessed global outage on their app and website, with fans complaining of multiple issues, especially during the main event which saw Paul winning by big margins on all three cards — 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73.
Here’s how internet reacted to Netflix’s global outage:
If Netflix doesn’t fix this buffering issue, this will go down as one of the biggest fails in all of tv/streaming history #TysonPaul #NetflixFight #PaulTyson
pic.twitter.com/WYeWk1xvWP— (@WhoDybala_) November 16, 2024
Anybody else’s @netflix service crashing constantly during #PaulTyson pic.twitter.com/jfw4KmMKVs
— Yared Vazquez, M.D. (Octagon Doctor) (@dryared) November 16, 2024
“omg did you see what just happened at Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul’s fight”
Netflix: pic.twitter.com/MRNrY9H0BF
— Timothy (@timontherocks) November 16, 2024
Netflix servers tonight pic.twitter.com/3QNl5BQ3ld
— Dallas Texas TV (@DallasTexasTV) November 16, 2024
Seriously @netflix should be embarrassed right now. As soon as people actually want to use their service, THIS IS WHAT WE GET. pic.twitter.com/cVoKkRd5aX
— The Older Millennial (@teameffujoe) November 16, 2024
Despite the defeat, Tyson was reportedly paid $20 million to sign up for Friday’s contest, which came 19 years after his last officially sanctioned professional bout, a defeat to Irish journeyman Kevin McBride in 2005.
The former heavyweight champion’s return to the ring had been greeted with dismay across the boxing world, which had dismissed Friday’s contest as a macabre circus that risked injuring the boxing icon.
Those concerns deepened in May when the fight — initially set for July — was postponed after Tyson suffered a medical scare during a flight from Miami to Los Angeles. Tyson later revealed he had vomited blood caused by an “ulcer flare-up.”
Tyson, though, brushed off the concerns for his health, insisting that his critics were mostly jealous that he remains a box-office draw decades after his 1980s peak when he terrorised the heavyweight division.
Tyson tried to recall that era of dominance in his ring walk on Friday, marching into the arena in his signature black trunks with a black poncho draped over his body.
Yet that was as close as Tyson came to reflecting the fighter he once was, with Paul comfortably keeping him at arm’s length throughout the contest.
(With AFP Inputs)