YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul has been labelled a “f—— idiot” after claiming that his bout with Mike Tyson is the most-watched fight in U.S. history.
The glamor contest between the pair proved controversial since its announcement, not least due to the 30-year age gap between the two competitors. Backed by streaming giants Netflix, it was the first time that former world heavyweight champion Tyson had fought since 2005.
Ultimately, the 27-year-old internet sensation Paul prevailed at AT&T Stadium, Texas as his 58-year-old opponent fell to defeat via a unanimous decision. Despite the divisive nature of the match itself, the spectacle proved a major draw in terms of viewers – with an estimated 108 million people watching the fight.
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Following on from his victory, “Problem Child” spoke of the heralded the significance of these figures, while erroneously dubbing it the most watched boxing event in American history. He claimed: “This is the biggest event, over 120m people on Netflix. We crashed the site. The biggest US boxing game, $20m, US history. Everyone is next on the list.”
However, the former Disney child star failed to account for the landmark rematch between Muhammad Ali and Leon Spinks back in 1978, which saw man known as “The Greatest” triumph in his final foray in the ring, An estimated two billion people watched that memorable contest around the world, including 90 million in the U.S. – with this ranking as sixth most-watched sporting event ever.
Bringing attention to Paul’s mistake, journalist Dan Rafael took to Twitter/X to set the record straight. He said: “Absolute nonsense. Just 1 example: Ali-Spinks 2 had a US prime time audience of 90M viewers and was estimated to have been seen by 2 billion worldwide.”
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One journalist called out Jake Paul for his remarks about the viewing figures for his fight with Mike Tyson (
Al Bello/Getty Images for Netflix © 2024)
In reply to this post, one follower then said; “It’s funny how they’ve counted world wide viewership for Paul vs Tyson and only US viewership for all the other ones,” to which the reporter brutally replied: “Because they’re f—— idiots.”
Either way, Paul appeared delighted with the reaction to the Tyson bout in terms of viewing figures, saying after the contest: “People just love to hate me. I’m easy to hate and I intentionally say things to make people hate me. I play the heel, I feed into that, and that’s just what I like to do and that’s what entertainment is.
“And at the end of the day, I started as a 17-year-old in Los Angeles in the entertainment business. But I’ve been in this sport for four and a half years and have been so active doing every event, taking any fight possible.”
The viral sensation added: “So if people want to see more or this challenge or fight this person, whatever it is, my response to them is just give him a couple more months. I’m going to accomplish more things in just a matter of months and I plan on doing everything in this sport that there is to be done.”
