In an unsurprising turn of events, 27-year-old Jake Paul defeated 58-year-old Mike Tyson in the highly anticipated Netflix fight. Paul won by unanimous decision, landing more than twice as many punches on Tyson as Tyson landed on him. Anyone watching could tell that Tyson was past his prime. He slowly came out of his corner, stood still in the middle of the ring and couldn’t get close to Paul.
Keen-eyed viewers also noticed other patterns, most notably Tyson’s tendency to bite his glove during the fight. While strange, this is nothing new for Tyson. Here’s a brief explanation.
Mike Tyson has bitten his gloves before
While close-up footage of Mike Tyson during his heyday is difficult to come by, we can go back to his exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr. for some evidence. in November 2020.
Just as he did against Paul, Tyson can be seen in the video biting his left glove.
Why does Tyson bite his gloves?
While this could be a maneuver Tyson is doing to keep his mouthguard tight, Mike Tyson’s answer to Ariel Helwani’s post-match question is a much nicer answer.
This, of course, refers to the moment Tyson infamously bit Evander Holyfield’s ear during their second fight in 1997. Everyone laughed; Holyfield probably cringed.
As crazy as it sounds, Tyson’s joke may make more sense than we think. Tyson may have a tendency to put soft, fleshy, ear-like substances in his mouth and bite them. As he said after the fight, sometimes fighters get caught up in the moment and don’t think clearly. They act without realizing what they’re doing, so maybe Tyson’s tendency to bite his glove was just a sign of something he does regularly.
Why was the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight cut on and off on Netflix?
Netflix’s livestream of the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight got off to a rocky start as buffering issues interrupted the Neeraj Goyat vs. Whindersson Nunes fight for a few moments.
At one point, some users were forced to log back in just as Goyat began playing with Nunes in the second and third rounds.
The Netflix stream sputtered again towards the end of the sixth and final round of the fight, which Goyat won by unanimous decision.
And the service also suffered from a buffering issue that interrupted the stream during analysis between rounds between Cedric the Entertainer, former champion Ray Jones Jr. and actress Rosie Perez.
According to Down Detector, the ongoing Netflix problem has led to thousands of outrage reports.
Netflix has not yet addressed the buffering problems.
How much will Mike Tyson and Jake Paul make from their Netflix fight?
Although the exact amount has not yet been officially announced, the fight amount for Paul vs. Tyson about $80 million, Sporting News reports. The outlet notes that Paul could earn half that amount by participating.
Tyson, on the other hand, is expected to earn around $20 million for the fight. The amount is comparatively lower, possibly because Paul’s company, Most Valuable Promotions, is working with Netflix to organize the event and make the fight happen, according to Screen Rant.
