by Keith Idec
JAKE PAUL and Mike Tyson didn’t provide much excitement once their eight-round heavyweight fight began on Friday night in Arlington, Texas.
However, fans of both boxers and spectators worldwide certainly showed up for them.
Paul’s MVP Promotions announced on Tuesday that the reported crowd of 72,300 at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium generated ticket revenue of $18,117,072 – setting a record for a boxing event held outside of Nevada in the U.S. The gate receipts for the Paul-Tyson fight surpassed the previous Texas boxing record set by the Canelo Alvarez-Billy Joe Saunders bout in May 2021 at AT&T Stadium.
Alvarez’s victory over Saunders attracted a crowd of 67,054 with ticket revenue of $9,002,020.
The announced crowd at the Alvarez-Saunders fight was 73,126, but it included all stadium personnel, police, media, etc., giving a misleading number.
However, the crowds for both the Paul-Tyson and Alvarez-Saunders fights exceeded the previous U.S. indoor boxing record of 63,352 set during the Muhammad Ali-Leon Spinks rematch in 1978 at The Superdome in New Orleans.
Paul, who won by unanimous decision, and Tyson also drew what is believed to be the largest audience for a boxing match since the Ali-Spinks rematch, with an estimated 65 million global viewers at its peak.
Netflix reported this number, but it did not include viewers who share passwords, potentially bringing the total closer to 100 million worldwide.
Despite the high viewership, many were disappointed by the lackluster fight between Paul and Tyson, which has received criticism.
Paul, much younger than Tyson, won convincingly on all three scorecards – 80-72, 79-73, and 79-73. However, many fans considered the fight with the aging legend to be more staged entertainment than authentic competition.
Tyson only threw 97 punches during the limited two-minute rounds to accommodate his age and inactivity. Once known as “The Baddest Man on the Planet,” Tyson had not fought in an official match since 2005 when he retired against Kevin McBride.
Paul admitted during the post-fight press conference that he intentionally carried Tyson to the final round due to Tyson’s physical limitations from age.
Both fighters also revealed they entered the ring with injuries – Paul with a sprained ankle and Tyson with a knee injury, further raising doubts about the legitimacy of their bout.
Tyson mentioned a medical emergency he experienced in May, leading to a four-month postponement of the fight from its original date in July.
