Netflix has been hyping up a fight for months between internet villain Jake Paul, and boxing legend Mike Tyson. Many people speculated about the outcome of this fight, with many predicting that Tyson would beat Paul in just a few rounds.

Even before the fight started, it was a spectacle. Paul did what Paul always does: he talked so much trash to his opponent that he crossed lines. Paul loves being the villain. He was in this fight. Like many performers, he knows that villainy is a good thing. Sometimes, infamy can be more lucrative than fame.

Paul is also a man who loves to be vilified. Paul is well-known for challenging older men who are past their prime. Dana White says that while Paul is a much better boxer now than when he started, he doesn’t like to challenge or ask for rematches against anyone capable and his age.

Dana White on Jake Paul,

“He is fighting a guy who is almost 60 years old. That says it all. There is nothing else that needs to be said. Him and Mike Tyson are gonna make a sh*t load of money…Jake Paul can fight….Jake Paul just won’t fight anybody.” pic.twitter.com/YnSjFkHyOD

— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) November 15, 2024

You have to realize that Paul’s goal is not to be the best boxer. He wants to be the best entertainer so he can earn a lot of money.

Nostalgia sells big.

Tyson is a man you probably knew even if didn’t follow boxing. Even if you don’t like boxing, you will know the man, his name, and his unique way of speaking. Most American men over the age of twenty have tried to do a Mike Tyson impersonation at some point during their lives.

Muhammad Ali is the only name that can compare to Tyson in terms of his boxing abilities. Paul can’t challenge him anymore, but that’s okay.

Tyson played the sleeping lion that was woken up by a young fool. The people were eager to see him ripped apart for his arrogance. They tuned in to watch it. Netflix’s live stream was pixelated and stuttery, but 60 million households watched the fight.

Everyone was invested. X was just talking about the fight. All cheered Tyson as he appeared and booed Paul when he first arrived. Tyson’s bare butt even spawned a meme, and I’m sure it wasn’t by accident. Paul then came out along with his brother Logan Paul who is also infamous, on a custom-built car, down the walkway, with all the glitz and glam you would expect from them.

The moment that everyone had been waiting for arrived. Tyson emerged. It was not flashy. He was not accompanied by any models or famous people. He was by himself. The walk, despite the music, was almost somber, as if it had a quiet dignity. A warrior old enough to have fought in battles past, but now he is going on one final mission. He was the last warrior of his kind.

Characters could not have been more clearly defined. After the first round, it was exciting to watch. However, the next rounds were almost disgusting.

Paul was never going to be able to defeat Tyson because Tyson’s age had already defeated him. Paul arrived after the fight. Tyson was getting more and more fatigued with each round. His leg was bothering him, and he was throwing fewer and fewer punches. He took a long time to get up from his stool.

As I watched I started to feel dirty, as if I had done something I regretted. It was difficult to watch Tyson go from an aggressive man to one who is just trying to hold his ground while time does its work.

The two men hugged and complimented each other after all the trash-talking, the infamous hand slap, and the hype.

It would have been nice to feel better after seeing the show of love and respect, but it did not. Dave Portnoy called it “one of history’s greatest cons.”

Credit to Jake Paul + Mike Tyson for pulling off one of the great cons of century. I shoulda put 10 million on Jake. Not cause he’s good but cause he fought a senior citizen. I would say everybody involved should be ashamed but I’d take the money it too if I could. #TysonPaul

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) November 16, 2024

Was it rigged or not?

I could not tell you for sure. People said that Tyson could easily have knocked Paul down, but he never did.

Paul seemed to know that if he knocked out Tyson he would go from the villain everyone loved to dislike to a villain everyone just wanted to ignore. The old Tyson would have been a pathetic sight. He would have looked pathetic if he had knocked out Tyson when he was in his prime. Even though it was Tyson who knocked him out, he would still have looked like a bad fighter. Paul is still in his prime.

Paul chose to do this. He fought all eight rounds and then, at the end, he took the technical win but gave the public victory over to Tyson. Paul raised his gloves as the final 10-second warning bell rang and then bowed to Tyson in a respectful display of worship. This brought the drama to a close and Paul gave the appearance that he respected Tyson.

He’s also excited about the future with Trump! He is just like most Americans! He’s always been one of us!

Both fighters received massive payouts. Tyson was reported to have received $20 million while Paul was paid $40 million.

It was all rigged to your disadvantage. We were tired of it, so we reacted by saying that we had been sick of Tyson’s aging. Many people felt a sense of pride in this “one final ride” moment. They saw themselves as brave warriors who were showing the world that they still had it in them. They are not done yet.

It’s important to remember that marketing can still be done in a way that gets past our defenses. With the right amount and type of storytelling, we can get past our defenses to things we don’t like or wouldn’t touch normally. After watching the fight, people felt cheated or ripped off because they realized that they were swindled. Even if the fight was not rigged, but was honest, we were still hyped up for it by marketing.

It was not what we expected. We were expecting honor and glory, like in the old days. But it’s normal. It’s all about nostalgia. You’re remembering something in your past and not experiencing anything new. You’ve eaten that food for a long time. You won’t feel satisfied just by remembering its taste.

Marketers were trying to convince you to go back to what they thought was a better time. But you cannot relive that time. These times are over… but there is some great news ahead. I don’t need to sell you this idea. We don’t have to look back.