Jake Paul Responds to Critics: ‘I Brought Boxing to Netflix’

Jake Paul believes the massive audience for his fight against Mike Tyson will never be matched. 

“I brought boxing and combat sports to Netflix and had the most-viewed sporting event streamed ever,” Paul recently said in an interview with Front Office Sports. “And I don’t think it’ll ever be broken.”

Netflix estimated that the November 2024 fight drew an average minute audience of 108 million viewers globally. Viewership peaked at 65 million concurrent streams and roughly 60 million household viewers. The streaming giant credited the U.S. audience alone with 38 million concurrent streams. 

But those figures came with a significant caveat. 

Unlike ratings for most major U.S. sporting events, Netflix’s global audience figures were  not independently audited by an established measurement company, such as Nielsen. The U.S. figures were compiled with help from advertising technology firm TVision. 

Paul said the fight’s enormous audience should carry more weight and deserve praise, rather than criticism that he fought then 58-year-old Tyson.

“You can say, ‘He fought an old guy, beat up Mike Tyson, how dare he,’ or you can say I brought boxing and combat sports to Netflix,” Paul said. “So there’s two ways to look at the coin. And it’s easier to be a hater. I’d probably hate me too.”

Paul has continued to deliver sizable audiences for Netflix, though none have approached the reported reach of the Tyson fight. 

His December 2025 knockout loss to former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua drew 33 million viewers globally, according to Netflix. The event ranked as the platform’s No. 1 program in 45 countries, including the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, Australia, Mexico, and Argentina.

Paul’s company, Most Valuable Promotions, also produced a substantial audience with its first MMA card on Netflix in May. The event, headlined by a Ronda Rousey–Gina Carano faceoff, averaged 12.4 million viewers globally and 9.3 million in the U.S, according to MVP and Netflix. 

MVP CEO Nakisa Bidarian told FOS the results were particularly encouraging given the UFC’s dominance of MMA.

“Any time anyone’s tried to replicate viewership for the NFL or the NBA or any major sport, you never see someone be able to achieve anything close to the viewership of that larger endemic brand,” Bidarian said in an interview. “And we did that with Netflix, MVP, and the fighters involved.”

MLB’s Home Run Derby, which was broadcast exclusively on Netflix for the first time this year, averaged 5.3 million U.S. viewers, down 7.5% from the previous year when it was broadcast on ESPN.

MVP is hoping to stage MMA events on Netflix more consistently, according to Bidarian. The promotion has also held several one-off boxing events on the platform and has a separate deal with ESPN for women’s boxing.

Paul, however, has little interest in winning over those who remain skeptical of his influence on the sports world.

“They can choose what side they want to be on,” he said. “They can jump on the train because it’s not going to stop moving, or they can talk shit.”