All of the buffering complaints didn’t prevent Netflix users from tuning into Jake Paul’s victory by unanimous decision against Mike Tyson on Friday.
The platform announced that 60 million users watched the final fight live, while 50 million watched the first co-main fight between Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor — which will likely make it the most-viewed professional women’s sporting event in United States history, Netflix wrote on social media.
“The boxing mega-event dominated social media, shattered records, and even had our buffering systems on the ropes,” the platform wrote in an X post Saturday.
But the night included plenty of hiccups and issues, with users complaining about buffering throughout the night and sparking concern with Netflix set to host a pair of NFL games — the Chiefs’ clash with the Steelers, as well as the Ravens’ showdown with the Texans — on Christmas Day next month.
Down Detector reported 88,000 streaming problems Friday night, with Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy writing on X that it became “unwatchable.”
But for those who were able to use Netflix, they saw Tyson, 58, fall to Paul — a YouTube and rising boxing star — in his first sanctioned fight since 2005, competing despite health concerns that initially prompted the bout to get postponed from July until Friday.
“I didn’t prove nothing to anybody, only to myself,” Tyson said following the fight. “I’m not one of those guys that looks to please the world. I’m just happy with what I can do.”
The spectacle included a bit of everything, from the lavish entrances to the awkward moment when Tyson’s bare butt popped up on the Netflix screen following a pre-fight interview.
Once the bout began, though, it became clear that Tyson — who revealed in an X post Saturday that he “almost died” in June, underwent eight blood transfusions and lost 25 pounds — couldn’t land punches against Paul like he might’ve been able to do in the prime of his career, which allowed him to compile a 50-6 record entering his clash Friday.
