Joe Rogan offered a withering assessment of the farcical fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul on Friday night, insisting ‘magic isn’t real’.
Tyson, the 58-year-old former world heavyweight champion, was beaten by the YouTuber-turned-boxer via unanimous decision in his first fight in 19 years that failed to live up to the hype.
The eight-round contest, which took place at AT&T Stadium in Texas, was streamed by Netflix with appalling results and was scored 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73 in favor of Paul.
Among those watching at home was Rogan, the podcast behemoth and UFC ringside personality.
A hopeful Rogan tweeted before the fight: ‘I’m getting ready to watch this Tyson vs Jake Paul fight like I’m watching someone cast a spell that I hope actually works. And I don’t really believe in magic. But I want to believe.’
But after the fight ended, Rogan simply replied to himself with the words: ‘Magic isn’t real.’
Joe Rogan offered a withering assessment of the farcical Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fight
Rogan simply replied to his pre-fight thoughts on social media with the words: ‘Magic isn’t real’
Despite the hype surrounding Tyson’s return, boxing fans and sports stars were left disappointed by just how one-sided the contest was.
The pair have since been suspended on account of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation’s strict rules.
Paul admitted afterwards that he decided not to knockout out Tyson after it was clear that he refrained from landing a decisive blow.
In the last 10 seconds of the fight, he even stepped back and bowed towards Tyson in a show of respect to sporting royalty – while effectively taking his foot off the gas.
Following the victory, the 27-year-old revealed that it was conscious decision not to inflict any unnecessary pain on the 58-year-old who, in his view ‘didn’t need to be hurt.’
When asked whether he eased up after noticing Tyson tiring, Paul said: ‘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.’
And speaking to Mail Sport after the fight, Jake’s brother Logan said of Tyson: ‘I think Jake let him live.’
Tyson was beaten by the YouTuber-turned-boxer via unanimous decision in a dismal spectacle
He added: ‘He’s tough, proud of him, weathered the storm against a young brute named Jake Paul.’
The underwhelming spectacle drew a few boos at the finish, while many of the those who watched the clash online were left feeling empty by the sight of the veteran.
Tyson was sluggish and stiff, stumbling around the ring while failing to make an impact outside of the first 30 seconds – especially as his right knee was in a brace.
Some tore into Gen Z YouTuber Paul for taking the cash before knocking around his much older rival with ease, with some branding it ‘elder abuse’.
Among the celebrities and fans worldwide who slammed the bout, MMA star Conor McGregor offered a bleak assessment of the occasion in a now deleted tweet.
‘A 16-minute spar in sparring gloves. F**k off,’ the Irishman said.
To make matters worse, Netflix’s streaming of the fight was riddled with problems throughout the evening.
Many viewers took to social media to express their frustrations with streaming and buffering problems before and during the fight.
Jake Paul, 27, admitted that he took it easy on the veteran after realising that he was tiring
The YouTuber even bowed to his 58-year-old opponent in the latter stages of the fight
According to the website Down Detector, nearly 85,000 viewers logged problems with outages or streaming leading up to the fight.
The fight was Netflix’s biggest live sports event to date, and an opportunity to make sure it can handle audience demand with the NFL and WWE on the horizon. It streamed globally to Netflix’s 280 million subscribers at no additional cost.
Netflix will broadcast two NFL games on Christmas Day and will begin streaming WWE’s flagship show ‘Raw’ on January 6.
The streaming delays weren’t the only problems Netflix experienced leading up to the fight.
Viewers saw Tyson’s bare butt in only a jockstrap when he walked away at the end of a pre-fight interview in his locker room.
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