In its latest foray into live sports, Netflix will broadcast a boxing match between former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson and YouTube star-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
The game is one of the company’s most significant forays into live sports streaming. On Sunday night, Netflix aired a tennis exhibition match between Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz called “The Netflix Slam.”
In November, the platform aired “The Netflix Cup,” a live golf event featuring athletes from Netflix’s Formula One documentary series “Drive to Survive.” ) and “Full Swing,” which follows the world of professional golf.
Netflix said in January it would increase investment in live sports programming and announced a $5 billion, multi-year deal with WWE wrestling programming.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said the agreement was consistent with the company’s emphasis on sports entertainment content and said it did not mean the company had changed its strategy of largely avoiding high-profile, high-cost sports rights packages.
The Wall Street Journal reported in November that Netflix was in talks to have a boxing match featuring Paul.
The game will be held on July 20 this year at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Netflix has not revealed how much Tyson and Paul will receive for the fight. Representatives for Tyson and Paul did not respond to requests for comment.
Streaming companies have been chasing the lucrative sports broadcast space for some time, adding more live events to their platforms. Sports are one of the few live programs that people watch and are particularly valuable to advertisers.
Amazon’s Prime Video and Alphabet’s YouTube have paid huge sums to broadcast National Football League games, while Comcast’s Peacock broadcasts Premier League soccer. and Big Ten football games.
The huge age gap between the boxers participating in this boxing match also increases the spectacle of the match: Paul is 27 years old this year, while Tyson will be 58 years old at the time of the match.
On social media, many people commented on the age gap between the two fighters. Some believe Paul should not box with someone who is past his prime, while others say they would never want to box with the former heavyweight champion despite his age .
Since becoming a professional boxer in 2020, Paul has accumulated nine wins and one loss, knocking down his opponents six times. The most recent was his first-round TKO (technical knockout in boxing) victory over Ryan Bourland last Saturday.
Paul is known for his strong social media presence, with nearly 26 million followers on Instagram and 20.5 million subscribers on YouTube.
One of the most feared boxers of all time, Tyson had a career record of 50 wins and six losses, with 44 knockouts. He was the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world from 1987 to 1990. However, in 2005, he lost to Kevin McBride in his last professional match.
Tyson is an infamous figure in boxing and popular culture. He published a memoir, “Undisputed Truth,” in 2013, describing his boxing career and how he struggled with addiction, bankruptcy and the years he spent in prison after being convicted of rape. . He has since appeared on television and in several Hollywood films.
In 2020, Tyson played an exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr., and the two eventually drew. Paul was a warm-up player before the fight between Tyson and Jones. It was Paul’s second fight and he knocked out former NBA player Nate Robinson.
Paul posted on social media, starting a pre-game verbal attack. “I idolized Tyson until I first met him four years ago… and he called me Logan,” Paul said on X (Logan refers to Paul’s brother, Logan Paul). “I want him to know who I am up close and personal.”
2024-03-08 02:35:00
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