Boxing fans were left infuriated by Netflix’s livestream of the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight on Friday in Texas over a series of technical issues that seemed to grow worse as the evening progressed.
Fans on both sides of the Atlantic faced poor image quality, prolonged buffering and spotty audio throughout Friday’s undercard. Meanwhile, hundreds online complained of error messages.
According to Downdetector, which tracks online outages, more than 80,000 customers were experiencing issues by 10:35pm New York time on Friday.
‘Netflix is scamming everyone into watching a fight they have no idea how to support technically,’ one critic wrote on X.
But there wasn’t just issues on the viewer’s end – there were also problems for those on the broadcast as well. Kate Scott, who provided hosting duties, was overheard asking the producers ‘where are we’ as those on the desk struggled to hear each other.
And it wasn’t just Scott having issues. Tyson’s former rivals Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield were also struggling to hear each other.
At one point Lewis asked Holyfield if he expected Tyson to bite Paul’s ear, as Iron Mike famously did to ‘The Real Deal’ in their 1997 rematch. The problem was Holyfield couldn’t understand Lewis, and by the time he did, the conversation was moving in another direction.
And when Cowboys owner Jerry Jones stopped by, things only got worse as the billionaire’s mic went in and out as he tried to praise Netflix as a future NFL partner.
‘Jerry Jones saying Netflix is a huge part of the NFL’s future into a mic that doesn’t work and then less than a minute later the stream goes down,’ one fan remarked.
Later in the night, after the Mario Barrios-Abel Ramos fight, during an interview with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, his microphone went dead. Jones was forced to borrow the mic of former Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin to give his answer.
The errors did not go unnoticed, with plenty of fans complaining on social media about the issues.
Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix posted, ‘Holyfield can’t hear Kate Scott so Lennox Lewis is yelling questions at him like you would your grandfather.’
‘#PaulTyson this production is so bad. horrible. @netflix,’ wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter.
‘Netflix is struggling with a few technical issues. Sheesh,’ said a different user while another branded it, ‘PITIFUL’.
Another posted, ‘@netflix it’s absolutely NO WAY this should be freezing and messing up like this with as much money as y’all swindle out of us per month. At least TWO months need to be free cause hell no ain’t no way!’
‘If Netflix doesn’t fix this buffering issue, this will go down as one of the biggest fails in all of tv/streaming history,’ read another post.
Barstool Sports’ Dana Beers posted, ‘Good Lord this Netflix stream is an absolute disaster.’
This bout was beset with problems throughout the year – with the fight initially set for July 20 before it was moved to Friday night after Tyson experienced medical issues.
But it appears that regardless of the result, the event will be billed as a success in terms of money brought in.
As revealed by Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) prior to Friday’s heavyweight bout in Arlington, Texas, Tyson–Paul has generated more than $17.8 million at the gate to become boxing’s biggest box-office success in the United States outside of Las Vegas.
What’s more, Tyson-Paul has nearly doubled the previous record in Texas, when Mexico’s Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez defeated Britain’s Billy Joe Saunders at the same venue, AT&T Stadium, in 2021.
And outside of a 2016 UFC bout between Conor McGregor and Eddie Alvarez in New York, Friday’s fight card has registered the highest gate of any US combat sporting event outside of Las Vegas.
MVP, which is co-owned by Paul, expects more than 70,000 attendees at the home of the Dallas Cowboys. In total, the venue has a capacity of 80,000.
