All of the buffering complaints didn't prevent Netflix users from taking note of Jake Paul's unanimous decision victory over Mike Tyson on Friday.
The platform announced that 60 million users watched the finals live and 50 million watched the first co-main match between Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor. This will likely make the match the most-watched women's professional sporting event in U.S. history, Netflix wrote on social media.
“The boxing mega-event took social media by storm, breaking records and putting the buffer system at risk,” the platform said. I wrote this on Saturday's X post..
However, there were a lot of troubles and issues that night, with users complaining about buffering throughout the night and Netflix being scheduled to host two NFL games (Chiefs vs. Steelers and Ravens vs. Texans). caused concern. —On Christmas Day next month.
Down Detector reported 88,000 streaming issues Friday night, with Barstool Sports' Dave Portnoy writing on X that it was “unwatchable.”
But for those who had access to Netflix, Tyson, 58, was in his first sanctioned fight since 2005, and even though the fight was originally postponed from July to February due to health concerns, it was still available on YouTube. I saw him lose to Paul, a rising boxing star. Friday.
Check out the Post's coverage of the Paul vs. Tyson fight
“I didn't prove anything to anyone, only to myself,” Tyson said after the fight. “I'm not a person who tries to please the world. I'm just happy with what I can do.”
The spectacle included a little bit of everything, from the grand entrance to the awkward moment when Tyson's bare butt appeared on the Netflix screen after his pre-fight interview.
But as the fight began, Tyson – who revealed on Saturday's X-Post that he had lost 25 pounds after undergoing eight blood transfusions in June and “almost killed me” – thought of Paul. It became clear that he was unable to land a proper punch. He was able to do so at the peak of his career, and was able to post a record of 50-6 heading into Friday's game.
“He's exactly what I thought he would be,” Paul said after the win. “He's an icon. He's a legend. I wanted to put on a show for the fans,” Paul added. “But I didn't want to hurt anyone who didn't need to be hurt.”
In the co-main event, Taylor defeated Serrano for the second consecutive year in another controversial decision, with all three judges ruling Taylor the winner 95-94.
