There was a lot of backlash surrounding Friday’s highly anticipated Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul boxing match, which was streamed on Netflix, but the criticism wasn’t about the fighters themselves.
Viewers experienced numerous technical issues with the streaming service, including poor video quality, pixelation, lag, and even crashes, long before the main event kicked off at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. As the undercard bouts were underway, complaints about the streaming problems flooded social media.
Tracking site downdetector.com reported a spike in Netflix-related issues starting just before 8 p.m. local time. By 9:30 p.m., more than 88,700 problems had been reported.
The much-anticipated fight between boxing icon Mike Tyson and YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul started just after 11 p.m. local time.
On X (formerly Twitter), users posted gifs of blurry, pixelated videos and images of error messages, joking that Netflix’s IT team was in for a tough night. Some even humorously revived the old “connecting” screen from the early days of the internet, referencing the dial-up connection issues from America Online.
The hashtags #NetflixFight, #buffering, and #netflixcrash were trending on social media during the event.
Netflix did not provide an immediate response when asked for comment, with a spokesperson saying they had no information to share.
Despite ongoing reports of streaming issues during the highly anticipated fight between Tyson and Paul, the problems were not as severe as earlier in the evening, according to Downdetector
Tyson, 58, is a former heavyweight champion and one of the most famous names in boxing. Paul, 27, first rose to fame as a social media influencer before transitioning into boxing.
Originally scheduled for July 20, the event was delayed until Friday after Tyson experienced an ulcer flare-up in May, which affected his training.
In the end, Paul won the fight by unanimous decision.