Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul Netflix Boxing Fight Draws Record 108M Global Viewers

Even though the fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson was an eight-round bore, Netflix's first foray into live sports was a success from a viewership standpoint.

The streamer announced on Tuesday that 108 million viewers worldwide watched the event, with the co-main event between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano being cited as the most-watched women's sporting event in U.S. history.

The 108 million viewers made it the most-streamed global sporting event, according to Netflix.

Netflix's first live-sports broadcast also served as a trial run since it will be doing that on a weekly basis very soon when WWE's flagship show Raw debuts on the streamer on Jan. 6.

Before that happens, though, the next big test for Netflix's servers will be two NFL games on Christmas Day. The second game of the doubleheader between the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans will also feature a halftime performance from Beyoncé.

The top two matches on the boxing card were marred by controversies. Taylor retained the undisputed lightweight titles by defeating Serrano via unanimous decision even though there seemed to be a valid argument for the Real Deal to get the win on the scorecards.

Paul vs. Tyson was criticized for being boring, especially when it became clear in the middle rounds that Iron Mike had nothing left. Paul said afterward he pulled back because he "didn't want to hurt someone that didn't need to be hurt."

It's hard to properly put the 108 million viewers into context because it's a worldwide audience. It is just ahead of Super Bowl 56 between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals that generated 101.1 million viewers, but that only accounts for U.S. audiences.

Regardless, it sounds like Netflix got exactly what they wanted when they paid for the international broadcast rights to air the Tyson-Paul matchup.