Mike Tyson Can Still Draw a Crowd

Mike Tyson lost to Jake Paul in Arlington, Texas last night.

Regardless of what you think of the aftermath, Tyson was able to still draw attention, even at 58 years old. Throughout the night, I heard from people I don't hear from often asking my thoughts on the match since they know I work in combat sports. But other things happened that were hard not to notice.

🔹 Netflix crashed because so many people decided to tune in to watch the night of the event.

🔹 Per Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) and Netflix press release the event is the biggest boxing gate outside of Las Vegas in US history.

🔹 The gate was $18 million double the previous Texas gate record for combat sports in both boxing and MMA, "obliterating Canelo's record of $9 million."

🔹 The gate is also higher than any non-Las Vegas UFC gate in history, "other than McGregor vs Alvarez in NYC per public records."

At the end of the match, when Tyson was asked if he would do it again he said "I don't know," and teased a match with Paul's brother Logan. Even though he drew, and it looks like the event was successful I don't know if he can draw again. The fight, although in the beginning looked to deliver something, it became concerning after round two.

Even Paul noticed it and said at the post-event press conference that he did indeed “take his foot off the gas.”

“Yeah, definitely. Definitely a bit. I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn't want to hurt someone that didn't need to be hurt.” Paul said about not going for a finish.

I for one was thinking about tuning out once I saw Tyson’s fatigue set in. Tyson lost his last two pro bouts at the end of his career. Boxing is still a contact sport, controlled violence sanctioned by athletic commissions that make money regardless of the damage done.

Tyson doesn’t need any more damage done to him, nor should he risk it.

But it was kind of cool to feel one last hype for a "Tyson fight," which is what this was.