The numbers don’t like and Jake Paul’s eight-rounder with Mike Tyson was a financial juggernaut.
The bout at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington broke Texas combat sports gate records and, at $17.8m, became the biggest boxing gate outside of Las Vegas in US boxing history. The previous record, held by Canelo Alvarez (against Billy Joe Saunders), was $9m. It was also higher than any non-Las Vegas UFC gate in history, aside from Conor McGregor vs Eddie Alvarez.
More than 74,000 were in attendance, with promoters MVP giving away 4,500 tickets to service organisations as well as “regional veterans and active military groups, local students and youth boxing gyms.”
“Breaking records like this is exactly what MVP was built to do – bring the biggest, most electrifying events to fans worldwide,” said Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions. “Jake Paul, Amanda Serrano and MVP are redefining what’s possible in combat sports, and we’re thrilled to partner with Netflix to make history at AT&T Stadium. This is just the beginning for MVP as we continue to raise the bar in delivering unforgettable moments in the ring. Congratulations to Jake Paul, Mike Tyson, Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano and the rest of this amazing card. Every athlete deserves recognition for this historic night.”
But while the cash registers were ticking over just fine, figures from the fight game on X spoke of their displeasure about the main event.
Former world champion Ishe Smith wrote: “I can’t do this anymore, I grew up watching legends. Was enamored with this boxing game from a child. I can’t do any more of these type of events.”
Pound-for-pounder Terence Crawford added: “I love Mike Tyson, but they giving him too much credit. He looked like trash, to train that long and only throw 97 punches the whole fight is crazy. I’m just glad he didn’t get hurt out there.”
Caleb Truax bluntly said: “That was horseshit. Everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves.”
Clifton Mitchell, a former heavyweight from the UK, stated: “I feel Mike Tyson looked older than his years legs have gone Jake Paul did the gracious thing and didn’t try to stop him which I feel he could have.”
Commentator Crystina Poncher had already tweeted: “I feel like the person driving slow looking at the crash on the freeway watching.”
“This shit is hard to watch,” typed Andre Berto.
Trending on X the morning after the night before, along with “embarrassing” was, “He’s 58.”
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